From Earth to Remnant
by The Asiassassin
Summary: A group of friends come across a strange device that takes them into the world of Remnant itself. Now they have the chance to attend Beacon, make new friends, and even help in the fight against Cinder and the White Fang. But are they strong enough to handle all of these changes? And will they ultimately find a way home?
1. Prologue

**A/N: Hey guys, welcome to From Earth to Remnant. Before we begin, I would like to inform you of some behind-the-scenes stuff that has happened recently. The original concept and author was ChaidexVulcan, but he gave me permission to rewrite and continue where he left off. This tale is the product of five people's creative minds: ChaidexVulcan, TheKishinSoul, two individuals without accounts (Daniel Petersen and Thomas Drake), and of course myself, The Asiassassin. I have made some edits as well, mostly very minor, because I know how some people are when it comes to reading literature.**

**Huge thanks to Chris7221 for helping out with suggestions as to how to make this thing better.**

**Anyway, I hope you guys enjoy.**

* * *

It was an intense day at Mt. Spokane High School. First semester exams were almost over. It was the end of the day, only 30-ish minutes left. Everyone was wiped out from the schedule, two classes a day where you take a two-hour-long test in each class.

Barrett Soth, an MSHS junior with blonde-looking hair and a slight figure, wandered into the band room. He had finished his final exam rather quickly, so the teacher let him leave class early. He was actually rather lucky in this case since none of his friends had teachers like that. No one was there except Barrett.

The drummer walked over to his band locker. Instantly he noticed something was off. Poking out from the creamesque-colored wall of lockers were tiny pieces of paper. He slowly opened his eye-level locker only to be met with a cascade of sticky notes. All of the sticky notes were covered with the words "Watch RWBY!" Barrett stood there flabbergasted and blinked twice. No doubt it was his fellow drummer Jeff Updike's doing. Barrett shook his head laughing at the tomfoolery. Reality set in, and his smile faltered.

Setting his backpack down, Barrett pulled out an iPad. He turned it on and became immersed. The odd thing was the set of buttons on the side that he was pushing. There aren't any buttons on the sides of iPads. At least, not like these ones, as they looked more like the A, B, X, and Y buttons on an Xbox controller.

Jeff strolled in soon after, "So… you uh… got my recommendation?"

"Screw you, man," Barrett said laughing.

Jeff joined Barrett, sitting up against the wall of lockers. "Have you figured it out yet?"

"Not even close, but I did find something cool," Barrett replied, holding the device out for Jeff. It wasn't really an iPad; however, it was still a tablet. It wasn't a Microsoft Surface or Cloud, that much was certain. As for who made it and what it was called, there are probably only a few who knew. Barrett and Jeff weren't the only two at Mt. Spokane who knew about this tablet. There were three others: John Petrovich, Daniel Peterson, and Thomas Drake.

* * *

Four students were walking along the pavement of Pike's Place market in Seattle, Washington. The leader was a lanky guy with blue eyes and a drum major jacket on. To his left was an Asian-looking kid, shorter than the rest of the four. To the "Asian's" left was another drum major, taller than the first but not by much. To the leader's right was a kid with long dark hair (don't be confused here, it is a guy) and kind of a stooped walk. Barrett was the blue-eyed drum major, and he was leading the others to the Gum Wall. Jeff, the drummer, was the kid to Barrett's right. John Petrovich and Thomas Drake were on Barrett's left, John being the Asian-looking kid.

All four were in Seattle on a marching band trip, hence the drum majors. Daniel Peterson was also there, however he was spending time with his girlfriend. He had asked her a day and a half ago. So while Barrett and the others were hanging out together, as they often were, Daniel decided to go "hoe" before "bros."

"Can you believe he would choose her over us?" Barrett asked the group.

John answered, "Well, he _did_ just ask her out."

"Not to mention the fact that he thinks the Gum Wall is unhygienic," Thomas pointed out, an obvious fact to the group.

"If you had a girlfriend, wouldn't you choose her over us?" John called Barrett out.

The group laughed as they kept walking. The bus had dropped them off, and they had 3 hours to do whatever they wanted. They had just ate lunch at a small pizzeria. Barrett led the way because he was the only one who had been to the Gum Wall before. John was unsure as to why the rest wanted to go to the Gum Wall, but he didn't complain. Jeff was listening to his iPod, not paying the slightest attention to the conversation. He was just jamming out to whatever song he was listening to. Thomas seemed interested in the Gum Wall and kept pace with Barrett.

As they approached Post Street, they noticed a familiar person. He was wearing a University of Arizona shirt, as always, and was walking hand in hand with a pretty brunette. Daniel and his girlfriend were just leaving the Gum Wall with her mother and couple of friends.

John noticed him first and called out to him, "Hey, Daniel, I see you decided to check out the Gum Wall yourself!"

His girlfriend's mom answered for him, "Actually, he was too scared to go in. He just stood here the whole time."

"Well, _duh_, I stood here, but it's not because I'm scared, it's because that place smells disgusting and it's extremely unhygienic." Daniel looked a little annoyed. His girlfriend laughed, and dragged him off to another store. "I'll see you all later once I've been violated with makeup." Daniel waved to his four friends.

"Oh, don't be such a baby. I'm not going to put makeup on you," Daniel's girlfriend smirked at him. The rest of the two lovebirds' conversation was distorted and cut off by distance.

"Well, what are we waiting for? Let's get going," Jeff had spoken for the first time in a while.

The group walked into the small alley that was Post Street. Thomas marveled at the amount of gum present on the walls.

A cough came from behind the four students. "Come here."

John turned around. All he saw was a wall covered in gum. He was so confused. How could a wall talk, and with a Japanese accent? Barrett turn to see what John was looking at. The same voice spoke again. This time John spotted where it had come from, a small doorway that was supposedly sealed off.

"There," John said pointing.

"There what?" Thomas and Jeff had turned around by then.

"The voice, that's where the voice was coming from," John lowered his voice as he slowly approached the doorway.

"What are you doing?" John was pushing open the door when Thomas stopped him. The door opened the rest of the way on its own to reveal a man in a military uniform. The Lieutenant Colonel grabbed John and yanked him through the doorway. The three remaining in the alley rushed forward to help their friend. What could one man do against four of them? Once they were all inside the man closed the door behind them.

"You have to keep it safe." The man shoved the tablet into Barrett's hands. At closer inspection the officer was disheveled and looked paranoid.

"What is it?" Jeff looked at it with curiosity.

"Sit down and I'll explain," the Lt. Col. said. There was definite urgency in his voice. "My division has been on the run for a while now. The Japanese Government has funded a research team to develop secret technology. With this technology they could have an infinite supply of resources. This tablet is a working prototype of this technology. It was designed to transport people and things to an alternate reality."

The four students didn't really learn much from the 15-minute explanation of how the tablet worked. There was an awful lot about the Many Worlds Interpretation that they didn't really know. To make a long story short, the science division had stolen the tablet to keep it out of the hands of the Southern Expeditionary Army (SEA), who planned to use it to take over the world. The science division, with the help of a Japanese recon team, fled to America. They purchased fake uniforms to go undercover. The team needed to get rid of the tablet for a year or two in order to lie low.

After the apparent Japanese scientist left, the group discussed whether to turn it in or not. They eventually decided against that idea, on the grounds that no one would believe them and that if they didn't keep it safe they might get in trouble with the SEA refugees.

* * *

Jeff and Barrett had together figured out a couple of the features the scientist told them about. The others, John, Thomas, and Daniel, helped whenever they could, but weren't as involved with it as Jeff and Barrett were. John read some of the code and learned some things about how it worked. Daniel knew most of the concepts for the Many Worlds Interpretation. Thomas was a little lost in it all, not being as tech savvy or science-passionate as the others, but he did bring up a very good point about it being a prototype.

Jeff and Barrett were enthralled in the app they were working out when John walked in.

"It probably works both ways like Thomas said," Jeff concluded.

The band room filled up a little more after John joined Jeff and Barrett, but it was still unusually empty. Thomas showed up soon after. The guys started talking about the OCs they had created some time ago. Daniel never showed up, but he was always a little inconsistent with who he hung out with.

"So, Thomas, did you figure out what Semblance would go best with Breeze's bow?" John asked.

"Umm… well, since his name is Breeze, I was thinking maybe control over air, kind of like in _Avatar: The Last Airbender_. That way his Semblance can aid his accuracy." Thomas looked at the others hesitantly.

"Sounds great, but there has to be something to limit it," Jeff said; he was kind of like the judge for their OCs, in a sense.

"How about that it's limited by distance? The further away, the weaker it is," John suggested. Thomas agreed. Barrett later asked what Breeze looked like. Thomas explained the gray hoodie-like shirt and the bow. After Thomas finished talking, Jeff had to leave. The others kept talking but abandoned the RWBY OC topic.

The next day they all gathered in the commons at school, which essentially was a cafeteria. Daniel asked the group if they wanted to play Dungeons &amp; Dragons with their RWBY OCs. Pretty much all of them were on board with the idea. They made plans to stay after school that day. Classes went by quickly as they anticipated their adventure for later.

The first thing they did was to make their OCs into D&amp;D characters:

Azure Rouge, Barrett's OC, was a swordsman with a skill in backhand and an offensive style of fighting. His Semblance was a mirage created by electricity that could be used in a second from as a moldable weapon or ammo.

Breeze Winston, Thomas's OC, was a bowman with a special set of arrows. The arrows were formed from his Aura and had different abilities. His fighting style was more defensive but not entirely so.

Robin Maize, John's OC, was a swordsman with skill in dual-wielding and great-weapons, again favoring an offensive style of fighting. His Semblance was a weaponized form of energy that is taxing to the user.

Cen Tempête, Jeff's OC, was a gunman; the gun was mechanized to take several caliber sizes. His Semblance was like a radar, allowing him to sense things around him as long as they had contact with the ground.

"Okay. Now that we have characters, let's do this," Daniel said. As dungeon master, he didn't need an OC to play. He designed a campaign for the others to play through, and ran the other events besides what the players wished to do.

Barrett pulled the tablet out of his backpack and decided to ask a question to the group. "What do we do with this? I mean, we're pretty much in trouble no matter what we do, but which is the lesser of evils?"

The group stopped playing to address the question none of them had really thought of up till then. What were they going to do? They couldn't hide it from the SEA for very long, and once found, what would the SEA do to them? They couldn't turn it in or the recon team would be after them.

"Well, what do we know about it? It is Japanese government, Nazi affiliated league, property, so giving it back is not an option and keeping isn't an option. I think it's time to take it back to the scientist," Daniel said.

John leaned forward. "Hold on a second. How do we get it back to them? We don't have contact info."

"That's true, but didn't he tell us at one point where they were going?" Thomas inquired.

A phone buzzed, and Daniel pulled his out of a pocket. He stood up and left the room. As he left he closed the door and the others heard him greet his mother.

"How would the SEA find us," Jeff asked, "if we don't have contact info for that guy and he didn't tell us where they were going? How would the SEA know that we have the tablet?"

"Hello, have you never watched _Taken_ or _Sherlock Holmes_? They're always figuring out crazy stuff like this with _very little info_ to go off of." Barrett was starting to look a little scared.

They talked for a while longer. Eventually, John left the room to check on Daniel. Not finding him there, he asked Thomas to help him look, leaving Barrett and Jeff alone.

"Do you really think they'll find us?" Jeff asked with skepticism.

Barrett turned the tablet over in his hands. They still hadn't figured out how to travel to any of the alternate realities (Sailor Moon, Full Metal Alchemist, Robotec, Bleach, and RWBY, to name only a few). There were apps to look at them and apps that had schematics on each, but they hadn't found one that transported people to them. Thomas figured it had to be hooked up to a separate machine first.

"Hey, look at this!" Barrett shouted excitedly.

Jeff leaned over. Barrett had just tapped the screen and a new display they had never seen before popped up. Up until then, it had never occurred to them that it might be a touch screen as well as button-controlled.

"You know those little circles on the bottom of the display? I pushed one and this showed up," Barrett said.

"That's cool, let me see it." Jeff reached out as his chair slipped and he fell. His hands flailed as he tried to catch himself. One of his hands hit the tablet out of Barrett's hands. The momentum of Jeff's fall knocked Barrett over too. Jeff laid on top of Barrett. In an attempt to get up, Barrett pushed Jeff off of himself. Barrett rolled onto his stomach, and grabbed the tablet to make sure it was alright. Jeff put his hand on Barrett's shoulder by accident, thinking it was a chair leg, and lifted himself up. His hand slipped off Barrett's shoulder and his fingers grazed the tablet's screen. A blue light filled the room for an instant, then dissipated. Barrett and Jeff were no longer in the room.

John soon re-entered the room with much confusion. First he didn't find Daniel, or Thomas, and now Barrett and Jeff were gone too. Did they go looking for Daniel as well? Then he noticed the tablet upside down on the ground, and thought to himself, _Barrett wouldn't leave this just lying around_. He picked it up and noticed the new display. He was sure it was new; he'd never seen it before. There was a flashing light under one of the circles on the bottom of the screen. John decided to push it. With another flash of blue light, he was gone.

Thomas and Daniel walked into the room, talking to each other. Thomas had found Daniel outside helping someone load things into a car. After helping, Thomas brought Daniel back so they could finish their D&amp;D game.

"So she broke up with you a couple weeks after the Seattle trip?" Thomas looked shocked.

"Yep, she said she's not good in a relationship," Daniel nodded in confirmation.

"Oh, that sucks." Thomas knitted his eyebrows.

"Ehh, you get used to it eventually," Daniel assured him.

Daniel and Thomas looked at the empty room before them. Thomas picked up the tablet. "Where is everyone?"

"Maybe they went looking for me," Daniel suggested.

Thomas looked at the tablet and Daniel watched as his friend touched the screen. He saw a blue light and Thomas was gone. Daniel shouted in surprise. He hurried to pick up the tablet. He was so worried that his friend had been zapped into oblivion. He panicked when he saw the flashing light on the screen and tried to tap it but missed and hit the circle next to it, which pictured a book instead of an arrow.

* * *

**A/N: Thank you for reading, don't forget to follow, favorite, review, and all that other good stuff. This is now an official rewrite, so I hope you all enjoyed the improvements so far. It should only get better from here!**

**From all five of us, we'll see you in the next chapter!**


	2. Chapter 1: Not in Kansas Anymore

**A/N: This version of the story is now officially a rewrite. A prologue has been added, and the original Chapter 1 has now been updated (here). If you have not read the prologue, please do so before continuing the story.**

**Again, huge thanks to Chris7221 for helping out with suggestions as to how to improve this story.**

* * *

Barrett woke up to four women surrounding him. His vision was fuzzy, but he could make out a color for each girl around him: yellow, white, red, and black. The woman in red attempted to help him up by offering her hand. Barrett weakly took it, and groggily got up. He staggered a bit, and then stood straight up. He was smack in the middle of what looked like a town.

The woman in red to his left steadied him. "Are you okay!?"

Barrett stuttered, "I… y-yeah…"

"That was quite a fall there." The woman in yellow slapped Barrett on the shoulder, causing him to fall over again.

The woman in white yelled at her, "You might have hurt him, you dolt. Are you alright mister?"

Barrett slowly got back up, holding his head. "Yeah… I'm fine."

The girl in red held his shoulder gently. "Take it easy."

Barrett's vision steadied. In front of him stood Blake Belladonna. He looked to his left to find Ruby Rose staring back at him. Behind him were Yang Xiao Long and Weiss Schnee. With the force of a bullet, realization dawned on him. When Jeff's fingers touched the screen it had activated the transportation feature. The one feature that none of them knew how to work. Barrett suddenly felt less solid and started to panic. How was he going to get home? Where was everyone else? What was going to happen to him? Thoughts chased each other about his head, making him stumble.

"Who… are you?" Blake asked. She looked at Barrett closely.

Barrett looked at himself to make sure he was presentable. His heart stopped. Not only was he not presentable, but he was now dressed exactly like Azure Rogue. The blue coat with a higher collar, unzipped, going to his feet, blonde spiked hair, and green eyes were now all his. The wrist gauntlets were black with red stripes. He found a blue sword with red vein-like designs on his back. Barrett was so perplexed.

"Am… Am I dead…?" Barrett asked quietly.

Yang was the one to answer, "Unless you're The Walking Dead I'd say no. Ehh, ehh, anyone?"

"Yang." Blake rolled her eyes at her. "What is your name?"

Barrett hesitated, then spoke, "Azure. My name is Azure Rouge."

"Hi Azure, my name is Ruby, that's…"

The newly named Azure interrupted Ruby, "Blake, Weiss, and your sister Yang." Azure pointed at each girl respectively. This obviously shocked all four of the girls there.

Weiss became very suspicious. "… How did you know our names?"

Azure looked slightly confused. How could he not know their names? These four girls were the main characters to his favorite show back on Earth. It seemed odd to Azure that he wouldn't know their names.

"You're the main characters of RWBY," Barrett spoke matter of factly.

Weiss narrowed her eyes. Ruby looked puzzled. Blake took a step back. Yang unfolded her gauntlets. Azure, finally realizing his mistake, held up his hands in surrender. He tried to calm the four girls but hopelessly failed. How do you explain to four girls that on your planet they star in a show that you watch without sounding like a stalker? Still, it could be worse.

Ruby and Weiss stepped off for a second to talk in private. Azure, Blake, and Yang stood there in awkward silence for several minutes. It was starting to become oppressively so when Ruby and Weiss returned.

"We have… decided to take you back to Beacon. Professor Ozpin should be able to figure out this situation," Weiss stated.

"I'd love to go to Beacon." Azure just assumed they were going to talk things out, figure out what happened, but he was still unsure of it all.

The five people walked up the street. Azure was between all four of the girls. He felt like a prisoner being moved. Yang and Ruby were quietly talking behind Azure.

"Do you think he's jacked up on Dust?" Yang asked.

"I don't know, sis, but he kind of scares me." Ruby had her hand on Crescent Rose. It was painfully obvious that she was prepared to use it.

"So… this is all pretty weird, right? I mean me appearing from nowhere and already knowing who you are. You not knowing who I am," Azure broke the silence. He was trying to break the ice a little, lighten up the situation. He laughed hesitantly. It might have worked if not for the body that landed on him.

Azure was once again on the ground, and that was starting to irritate him. He pushed the limp form off him like he did to Jeff earlier. This time, however, it was not Jeff, but Robin Maize. Everything was there: the black skull mask, the gauntlets, the incredibly dark red pants and shirt, but the black cloak was missing, which seemed odd. When Azure arrived, he wasn't missing anything. As this thought finished processing, Azure's eyes were obscured by a cloth landing on top of him.

Robin hazily came to. He looked around to see Azure sitting there with _his_ cloak laid across his head. Robin snatched it back. The two stood up.

"Okay, I could handle you two falling from a Nevermore," Yang pointed at Ruby and Weiss. Flames surrounded her figure, and her eyes shone a soft red. "But this is ridiculous. Two people have just fallen from the sky with no Nevermore in sight."

Robin looked at Azure, and cracked a smile. "She's _Yang_ry."

Azure and Robin started laughing so hard they were on the ground. The two goofballs missed the fact that Blake left for a minute or two. The girls let the hooligans laugh for quite a while. When Azure and Robin finally regained their composure, they helped each other up.

"I'm sorry we have to do this to you," Ruby said. She truly looked sorry, but the two boys wondered what she could be sorry for. Azure and Robin both blacked out from being hit in the back of the head with who knows what.

When Azure came back to his senses, it was vicariously so. It seemed he was watching himself from afar instead of doing it himself. He sat there in a chair with a spotlight in his face. From behind the light source he heard the shuffling of people. It sounded so loud to him that it hurt, and the light was blinding.

A female voice hit him like a wall, "You fell from the sky, where from?"

"Umm…" Azure was so discombobulated he couldn't remember where he was from.

"Umm. You come from Umm?" A whip hit the table in front of Azure.

Azure retracted from the table, and squeaked, "No, I come from Earth."

"Earth? Where is it?"

"It's in the Milky Way," Barrett replied quickly. He was so terrified.

"Do you think this is some kind of joke? Where are you from?"

Barrett again realized his mistake; if he was still on Remnant, they wouldn't know where Earth is. What could he say, though? They wouldn't understand any answer he could give them.

"How did you fall through from the sky? Are there more of you?"

"More? Not that I know of. Did you find more?" The urgency in Azure's voice probably didn't help his position in the slightest. He didn't really care, though he just wanted to know if he and Robin were all alone or if Cen was there.

A male coughed lightly. The light shifted down out of Azure's eyes. "He is either telling the truth or believes he is."

It took a few minutes, but eventually Azure blinked away the spots in his eyes. It took him a few seconds more to realize he was looking at Professor Ozpin and Professor Goodwitch. Azure had almost lost it. First, he apparently fell from the sky, then woke up, met team RWBY, who knocked him out, and was interrogated by the headmaster and headmistress of Beacon Academy.

"You have five minutes; impress me." Ozpin leaned back in his chair.

Azure shifted in his own chair. "Im-Impress you?"

"Impress me." Ozpin looked expectantly at Azure.

From the amount of cop shows Azure had watched back on Earth, it was surprising how long it took him to figure out that small command. Azure told the pair his name, and explained where he had come from, Earth. He told them how he got there, a coincident and a mysterious tablet. He even told Ozpin and Goodwitch about the show RWBY.

"Hmm… you seem to be a smart kid. I'm going to enroll you into my school. Do not mistake this as an invitation. I am first and foremost a Huntsman. This is simply an easy way to keep you under my eye to figure out whether you are a friend." Ozpin stood up, and picked up his cane.

"Thank you, sir," Azure said.

"Do not thank me for this. You have no idea the challenges that await you in the future. You will have to work hard to prove your place here." And with that Ozpin left the room.

* * *

Robin was tied to a chair, with a bright light in his eyes. The silhouette of a man stood next to the light. Robin was kind of scared; he'd never dreamed he would be interrogated by the police.

"I've already talked to your friend," the silhouette said. "If you want this to run smoothly I advise you answer with the truth."

Robin was confused about what he had done, but it must have been something bad. "I don't know what you are talking about."

"I would think you couldn't forget falling from the sky." The figure still stood in that one spot.

Robin was nervous, but at the mention of falling he recalled his going back to the D&amp;D game, finding no one there, holding the tablet, then falling to the ground with a red glaze over his eyes. "Umm… I can explain."

"I hope you do," the voice said.

Honestly, Robin recognized the voice but couldn't quite place it. Robin described his adventure from the creation of his OC to being in that room.

"Hmm… well, Mr. Maize, your story concourses with that of Mr. Rogue's, so I will offer you the same atonement that I gave him. I'm going to enroll you into my school. This is not an invitation; it is simply a way to keep an eye on you." The light lowered from Robin's eyes, causing the silhouette to disappear.

"Umm… Who are you?" Robin asked. He was sure he already knew. The voice was so familiar but he couldn't place it.

"Professor Ozpin. I am the headmaster of Beacon Academy," Ozpin replied. He stepped forward into Robin's clearing view. Sure enough, it was Professor Ozpin in all his green and black glory.

* * *

Azure was uneasy about that last statement. He didn't want to prove his place in Remnant. Sure, he wanted to stay for a while, but the way Ozpin said it, it sounded like he was there indefinitely. His mind started to wander around all the same questions he had when he arrived.

Goodwitch finally snapped him out of it with instructions. "You will be shadowing Team RWBY for your duration here." Her expression looked much like Medusa. Azure was afraid he would turn to stone. "Whatever they do, you do; wherever they go, you go. Got it?"

"Y-yes ma'am," Azure replied.

Azure was finally allowed to leave the interrogation room after several more hours. In those few hours between Goodwitch leaving and Azure being released, Azure's weapons were apparently searched and analyzed. Azure's mood didn't improve when he found Team RWBY. They all got a message with details of their duties concerning Azure. Weiss didn't look happy with the new assignment, and neither did Blake.

"Ugh… it's so unfair. Why do we have to babysit someone who fell out of the sky?" Weiss stormed out of the room, slamming the door behind her as she went.

Azure winced at the words and slamming door. He felt rather lonely. It wasn't till Robin walked in that he realized why. Robin had been berated with questions just as Azure had. The two were both assigned to shadow Team RWBY as partners. Robin looked more excited than Azure. The way Robin saw it, he was living out a dream he'd had for some time: living in Remnant, training at Beacon to become a huntsman. He honestly didn't mind it, not to mention that he didn't really think about home.

"We're going to go training if you want to join us," Ruby offered. Under their terms of enrollment Azure and Robin could hardly refuse, so off they went to the sparring room.

There was a lot of setup before Team RWBY started training. Weiss had calmed down a bit, but was still furious. Azure felt a like he should do something to smooth things over with her.

"So… Weiss?" Barrett approached her slowly.

Weiss simply ignored Azure. Robin was silently telling him to back off. Azure, being Azure, decided to continue anyway. With some pretty lame jokes he got her to speak to him, but that was just to call him a dunce. Azure's sheer stubbornness wouldn't let him quit so he kept going. Eventually Weiss had just had enough. She stomped over to Goodwitch, who was supervising the two boys.

"Weiss has asked to fight Azure in a tournament-style duel," Goodwitch announced.

"Now you've done it." Robin did a facepalm. Azure just looked shocked.

"Do you accept?" Weiss had a smug look on her face that just said 'Yeah, I did that. What are you going to do about it?'

"Yes," Azure walked over to the platform and got up. He had no idea what he was thinking. He couldn't sword fight, let alone against someone who was experienced at it.

"Ready," Goodwitch called out.

Azure and Weiss drew their swords.

"Fight!" Goodwitch stepped back.

Weiss shot forward off of a glyph. Azure deflected her rapier, just barely, but her body slammed into him. He wobbled off balance and swung wildly. By some miracle, it actually connected with something. Unfortunately for Azure, it wasn't Weiss or her sword, but rather another glyph. He spun around to find her. Again and again, Weiss lunged at Azure, who was starting to get the hang of his sword. His blocks became surer and less last-minute.

After the tenth or eleventh lunge, Azure rolled to the side. This caught Weiss off-guard entirely. Azure pressed his advantage, swinging his sword in a vicious overhand. Put on the defensive, Weiss deflected the blade. A few swings later, Azure threw his sword in the air from his right hand as he punched with his left. Azure spun to his knee, and caught the sword backhand. With a quick swing he almost knocked Weiss on her feet. Had she not jumped, he would have succeeded. Weiss stabbed with her rapier. Azure, with his Longsword too low, could do nothing to stop it. His Aura surged at the point on his shoulder Weiss hit.

The two disengaged, and circled each other. Weiss eyed Azure with a new respect. She decided that melee was her best chance still, because let's face it, Azure was kind of slow. Azure, on the other hand, had different plans from melee.

Weiss spun the dial on her sword. A white Dust coated the blade. She swung it sideways, casting off four spirals of Dust. Azure wasn't quite ready for Dust to be hurled at him, but he recovered quickly. The blade of his sword folded over his arm and the handle turned into a pistol. With the new armor, he blocked and dodged the dust.

Before Weiss could get too close, Azure let off a small burst of gunfire. Weiss had to change directions to avoid the bullets. Weiss tried again to the same effect, only this time, Azure hit her with a couple well-placed shots. They knocked her over, and Azure rushed forward. Weiss played dead and, at the last minute, jumped out of the way with a nice slash to Azure's shoulder again. He was about to punch her in the stomach, when...

"That's the match!" Goodwitch shouted. "Very good, both of you. Azure, I must say I am impressed with your comeback."

"Thank you, Professor." Azure dipped his head a little.

A couple more compliments and quite a few suggestions were exchanged between Professor Goodwitch, Azure, and Weiss, after which Goodwitch left. Robin and the rest of Team RWBY crowded the two. Ruby was rebuking Weiss's challenge. Yang was asking Azure where he learned to fight like that. When Azure said he didn't know, Blake stepped into the conversation. Robin stood off to the side just thinking. _If Azure knew how to use his weapons, will I instinctively know how to use mine?_

Robin felt a buzzing in the pocket of his pants. He pulled out a Scroll. He wasn't even aware of when he had received a Scroll. Maybe it was when he arrived in Remnant. He noticed that all the others were pulling out their own Scrolls. To Robin's surprise, there was a message from Ozpin:

"Large Grimm spotted in the forest near Beacon. Return to your dorm immediately! The following students will respond:

Azure Rogue

Robin Maze

Ruby Rose

Weiss Schnee

Blake Belladonna

Yang Xiao Long

Jaune Arc

Nora Valkyrie

Pyrrha Nikos

Lie Ren"

Ruby frowned. "But we were going to play my board game next!"

"Come on, sis, we can play afterwards," Yang pulled Ruby along.

"I hope you two are ready for your first exercise," Blake said as she walked away.

Weiss pointed at Azure. "You may be better than I thought, but don't get in my way."

Robin and Azure looked at each other. Azure had several thoughts flying through his mind: Where was Cen? How had he beat Weiss in a fight? Where did he learn to fight like that? How was he going to get home? Robin, meanwhile, again wondered if he would instinctively know how to use his weapons.

* * *

Jeff woke up to find himself draped across a tree branch, much like a towel hanging to dry. He looked around, noticing he was in a forest. However, he was in neither the Emerald Forest nor Forever Fall, as the trees seemed to be evergreens, instead of red-leafed deciduous trees.

"Where am I…?" His head hurt as he tried to think. _How did I get here?_

After a couple of minutes of intense thinking and devastating migraines, he finally remembered. _I saw a flash of light when I bumped that tablet. After that flash of light, I was free-falling…_ It didn't take much to guess where he had landed.

He looked over himself to make sure he was okay. In his first glances, he noticed chains and cloth strips that looked oddly familiar. He shook his head, his headache going away. After his vision cleared once again, he stood up on the branch and quickly found his weapon, an assault rifle loosely based on the Chinese T-91. In that moment, he realized that he was no longer Jeff, the percussionist from Mt. Spokane High School, but rather Cen Tempête, the character he had designed nearly a month before. He wore mostly gray clothing and had slightly long, dark gray hair. He quickly ran his hands over his face, relieved to find that he didn't have the scars...yet.

He took an extra moment to try his Semblance, closing his eyes and touching his fingers to the tree branch. Much to his pleasure, it was still the Radar Semblance he created. Unfortunately, he noticed an unnaturally high concentration of Grimm by him, looking down to find too many red eyes to count. To say that he trembled in place would be the understatement of the millennium. For a couple of seconds, he trembled uncontrollably to the point where he may as well have caused an earthquake.

After a moment, he grabbed the knife he knew he had and unsheathed it, attaching it to his rifle. Waiting a moment to calm down, he fired at the crowd of Grimm below him with .22 caliber, full-auto rounds. He managed to take down a beast or two before they started jumping in an attempt to get him. He stopped firing and began stabbing and slashing at the jumping Grimm with his bayonet.

After killing a few more monsters, he jumped from the branch and hit the ground running. He glanced back for a fraction of a second to see that the pack of assorted Grimm was chasing him. Noticing his empty magazine, he reloaded his gun, deciding to change to .30 caliber bullets. He knew that the caliber change would also transform the barrel and firing mechanism as well as change the firing mode of the gun from full-auto to burst. Before firing at the Grimm again, he detached his bayonet, wielding it like the knife it really was, and slashed at some Grimm while firing the rifle with his other hand.

As he started to lose the pack, he could feel his exhaustion catching up to him. "Barrett!" he desperately cried. "Barrett! WHERE ARE YOU?"

* * *

A black feather knocked Jaune off his feet once more. Pyrrha was lucky enough to stay upright and rushed over to help her friend. Ren and Nora were distracting the Nevermore as much as they could, before getting knocked away by a stray wing. Team RWBY was up on the towers of ruined buildings, raining bullets from the sky. Azure and Robin were sitting on a massive tree branch, showering the Nevermore's head. Robin had his hood up and mask in place, his eyes a deep red.

The Nevermore took a shot to the eye and fell. Ruby jumped from her half-crumbled pillar to move in. As she fell, a feather caught her cape, pinning her to the pillar, and Yang took a glancing blow across the face. Another feather whizzed by Blake, barely missing. Weiss used a glyph to jump over the feathers flying at her.

With Teams RWBY and JNPR out of action for the most part, Azure and Robin ran in side-by-side to attack the Grimm. As they got closer, Robin holstered his two pistols and drew twin katanas, pitch black like the night sky. After a couple of charged shots, Azure followed suit; he transformed his gun back into a sword, its intricate Dust patterns glowing ever so slightly.

The two separated, slashing and hacking at the side of the Nevermore. Skidding to a stop, Robin flipped the katanas forehand and slammed them together. The two blades fused together to create what appeared to be a broadsword. He dashed forward once again, dodged the Nevermore's attack, and managed to stab it in one of its wings, but this seemed to only enrage the beast.

The Nevermore knocked Robin back as he thought, _Well, on the bright side, it can't fly anymore..._

Robin recovered in midair and reoriented himself. He plunged his broadsword into the ground and skidded to a halt. Azure simply nodded before collapsing his sword around his arm. Azure charged a shot and launched it at the Nevermore. Though a clean hit, the attack (much like all the other ones) had no effect on the Grimm.

"I guess we're going to have to try something else..." Azure began before trailing off.

As though hearing this, the Nevermore screeched and launched feathers from its one good wing, catching the pair of hunters-in-training off-guard.

In a desperate attempt to guard against the feathers, Azure used his machine gun to knock the feathers down, but to no avail. The feathers closed in with alarming speed.

Noticing this, Robin shot in front of Azure and held up his right hand. A dark shield out of pure energy conjured in mid-air. Behind this shield, both men were safe as the feathers were harmlessly deflected.

Azure was confused, thinking he was dead or something. He looked up to see the shield. Realization dawned on him. He knew what Robin had just done; he had just used his Semblance. Azure had no idea what his own was nor how to use it. However, if there was any time to learn, it was now. This determination sparked his spirit, quite literally. Electricity began to course through him, and copies upon copies of Azure came into being, surrounding the Nevermore. Ad metaphysical beings, they could do nothing to harm the Nevermore, but it would certainly give Azure and Robin an advantage of "numbers" and surprise.

At the same time Robin vaporized the energy shield, he separated his broadsword back into the twin katanas. He plunged them into the ground and rolled the Dust revolvers on his belt out of their holsters. Before they were fully out Robin stopped them with his gauntlets. The energy of the dust flowed into the gauntlets, causing them to glow with the power of the respective elements. As it was, Robin's right gauntlet received the energy of fire, his left receiving ice. Using his Semblance in a different way now, he shot energy beams at the Nevermore. The Dust from the gauntlets affected the energy, changing it into the two elements of fire and ice. He then picked up his twin katanas, the blades changing color from the pitch black they normally were to a red and a very light blue.

Azure's eyes were filled with electricity. It radiated off the side of his eyes. A sphere of pure lightning surrounded him, arching in different directions. His gun radiated a translucent blue. The energy coming off Azure was being channeled through his gun. He used it to separate the Nevermore from its wings and legs, preventing it from moving. His electricity focused into a sword, attached to his right arm. Azure dashed forward.

"Robin, go for the head! I'll take the chest!"

Robin obliged. In the process, he bumped into one of Azure's copies. Instantly it and several close by morphed into copies of Robin. Combining his melee katana attacks with his ranged Dust attacks (also from the katanas), Robin hacked and slashed at the bird's face. Meanwhile, Azure assaulted the Nevermore's chest with a deadly combination of sword swipes and charged shots.

Their movements were in sync, almost to the tee. They helped each other out with their Semblances whenever necessary. Azure confused the Nevermore with the countless clones of himself and Robin, and Robin shielded both of them from any stray attacks.

Azure raced to meet Robin at the Nevermore's head, and with uncanny timing and precision, the pair executed a combination of sword slashes, ultimately ending in the two of them decapitating the Nevermore.

As the Nevermore dissipated, Azure recalled his clones and Robin dispelled the Dust from his gauntlets. The dumbfounded and awestruck expressions given by Teams RWBY and JNPR were such compliments. Robin removed his mask and hood. His eyes calmed down back to the usual brown.

Azure folded the arm gun back into a Longsword, then into his sheath in a single movement. He then approached Robin.

"Not bad, my man." Azure stated with a smirk. He offered a handshake.

"We take down a Nevermore, and all you can say is 'Not bad'?" Robin fumed.

Stunned, Azure began to withdraw his hand.

"Oh, I'm just kidding," Robin said with a smile, shaking Azure's hand.

Azure smiled again, and laughed, shaking Robin's hand. "Atta kid!"

The two continued to laughed as they shook hands. Azure pulled away and was taken out by a falling body. He was becoming more and more irritated of getting knocked off his feet. As Robin moved into help Azure up, he noticed the figure that had landed on top of him. It was obviously based off of the color gray. He, as it turns out, wore a gray T-shirt, a white and light gray vest, a scarf with different shades of gray, and gray shoes that looked suitable for parkour or free-running. He wore dark denim jeans with straps on his left leg. Robin wondered what they were for. The person's hair was really the only other thing not gray, instead being mostly brown with a hint of white. He was clearly an archer, given away by the glove on his right hand and the pad on his left, not to mention the bow and quiver on his back. Robin was glad the man landed face-down, especially after noticing the blades on the ends of the bow.

Robin pulled the new figure off of Azure, who stood up and dusted himself off. "Hey, that's Breeze, isn't it?"

"I'm willing to bet that you're right about that," Robin said. He supported Breeze with an arm around his waist. "Breeze, do you remember anything?"

"His eyes are open," Azure said with concern. "Is he… dead?"

Robin put two fingers on Breeze's neck. "He's still alive, thank God."

"What is going on?!" Weiss looked confused now. There was now a third person who had fallen from the sky.

Azure and Robin helped Breeze walk a few feet. He shook free and stumbled a few paces before falling forward. Yang just barely caught him.

"Yang… what?" Breeze stumbled over his words in a drowsy sense before he passed out completely.

"We need to get him to the medical wing." Robin helped Yang hold Breeze, and started walking him back to Beacon.

Team JNPR left for a training session, which left Team RWBY to deal with the problem of Breeze. It took Yang and Robin, who switched out every once in a while with Azure, almost an hour to haul the limp form of Breeze out of the forest of Forever Fall. In that time, Weiss and Ruby had gone to talk to Ozpin. Azure was concerned about his friend. Breeze seemed to have taken the experience pretty badly, the empty feeling of falling from the sky and the force of landing on the ground.

After dropping Breeze off, Robin and Azure decided to go back to their dorm room, down the hall from RWBY's. The two talked about Breeze's condition and what this meant. Did it mean that Cen had arrived already, or had the unthinkable happened? And what about their fifth companion, where was he? Halfway to the dorm, their conversation switched track to complimenting each other on the recent fight.

Robin opened the door, not expecting what was inside. The duo stood in shock for a moment, processing the scene in front of them. There was a gaping hole in the ceiling, and a guy was passed out in one of the beds. At that moment, though, he seemed to wake up. He stood up to find the two looking at him in confusion.

"What the actual hell is going on here?! What… Who… are you?" Azure started to flip a figurative desk.

* * *

**A/N: I hope you don't mind a somewhat abrupt and mostly mild cliffhanger. And no, I don't know how Yang knows about The Walking Dead or if it even exists in Remnant.**

**If you like what you see, don't forget to Follow, Favorite, and Review.**


	3. Chapter 2: Unaccepted

**A/N: Chapter 2 is finally here! The update schedule will continue to be biweekly (as in once every other week) for the next few chapters, then move to weekly. Regarding how many more chapters before this change, that depends on everyone's schedules. Expect anywhere between 2 - 5 more chapters before the change.**

**We'll get out of your way now, so enjoy!**

* * *

"What the actual hell is going on here?! What… Who… are you?" Azure started to flip a figurative desk.

The figure slowly picked himself up from the ground. Had Azure and Robin not been in so much shock, they might have helped him. His silver armor clinked as he stood. It looked like plate armor from a video game, with its wide shoulder plates and some of the extended plates. The intricate etching on the breastplate was half-obscured by the cloak he wore. The cloak folded around, covering his left arm completely, and was open on his right. The shoulder plates of the armor held it in place. There was a silver emblem on the front of the cloak, which was obviously a pin to take the cloak off. Under the cloak, the etchings made the shoulder plates look like wings, and in the center of the breastplate was a cross.

"Azure, is that you?" The figure looked just as confused as Robin and Azure did. "Robin?"

"Yeah, that's us, but I'm not sure we know you." Robin recovered first from his daze. He looked the newcomer up and down, sizing him for a fight. The man was pretty heavily built, though the armor covered most of his extremities so it was hard to tell.

The figure looked at himself, and replied to Robin's concern, "Well, it would seem I am now Nero, because I certainly don't look like Daniel any more… So that means you're Barrett and John."

Azure and Robin nodded in confirmation as Nero pointed to each respectively. "Well, Nero, Breeze just showed up about an hour ago. He's in the medical wing now." Azure finally seemed to recover from his surprise, and was eager to join in on the conversation.

"Yeah, he had kind of a rough fall. Anyway, it's nice to know this is what your OC looks like." Robin picked up an elongated pole, which was lying on the ground next to Nero. Robin had some difficulties with its size and a little bit more with the weight. On one end of the pole were a massive axe blade and a large muzzle break. On the other end of the barrel was a slimmed stock with a huge clip. Nero thanked Robin as he took the weapon. Robin was a little miffed at how easily Nero moved it around. The blade folded down around the barrel, making the whole thing look like an over-sized walking stick.

Azure laughed a little, "You _did_ keep it kind of secret from the rest of us." He, too, was surprised by the look. The cross and the wing etchings, they were all pretty elaborate. If he looked closely, there would probably be one of those designs within a design.

"Sorry 'bout that. Where's Cen? Didn't he make it?" Nero was distracted by rearranging his attire, but when he looked up, it was clear; the expressions that Robin and Azure said it all. They had no idea if Cen had made it or not, and if he had, they didn't know where he was. "We'll find him." Nero wasn't entirely sure of himself with that, but wasn't about to show his friends his unease and self-doubt.

Weiss rushed through the door all in a tizzy. She walked straight into Azure, as if she couldn't stand him to begin with. She almost fell flat on her face, but luckily caught herself mid-fall. She turned to Azure and pointed a finger at him. "You complete dolt. Why would you just stand there in the way like that?"

"Uh, I'm sorry," Azure flustered. Azure backed up to give Weiss some more room. Ruby followed Weiss into the room. Blake and Yang were standing out in the hall, curiously trying to see in.

"Never mind, what fell through…" Weiss stopped mid-sentence as she noticed Nero standing in the room. A new person she had never seen before was standing in the middle of the room, having just fallen through the ceiling, which was made apparent by the gaping hole in the ceiling and the bits of rubble in a hodgepodge about the floor. "Who are you? What are you doing here? You shouldn't be here. I can't believe this."

"Weiss. Shut up." Nero, although speaking with a clear and defined tone, was having some difficulty keeping a straight face. Weiss was dumbstruck; no one in her entire life had been so blunt to her. She couldn't believe Nero had just insulted her like that.

"How dare you talk to me like that?" Nero and Weiss exclaimed at the same time. Weiss narrowed her eyes. It looked like she had a beam of light hitting her face and she was trying to see through it. Just about anyone else would have stepped back in fear, but Nero just had a smile on his face as he imitated her. Weiss scoffed in exasperation, turned around, and stalked off. As soon as she left, Nero started laughing so hard he almost fell to the floor, "Told you I'd do it. Oh, man, that felt great."

Robin laughed with him, remembering the promise they had made that if Nero ever meet Weiss he would just irritate her throughout the first interaction. Azure looked at him a little disapprovingly. "That was really mean."

"Who ever said I was nice?" Nero just laughed a little more at his friend trying to assume the position of courtesy. "I'll apologize later." Nero noticed Blake looking at him. Her eyes entranced him instantly. She quickly broke eye contact. Whether it was from embarrassment or not, Nero wasn't sure. His smile slowly faded to be replaced by a ghost-like desire.

"Nero, you know Ruby, Yang, and Blake, just as you know that was Weiss," Robin said, with a smile still on his face. Ruby waved in greeting; Yang made a witty remark that got everyone laughing. Nero faked a laugh, not having heard the joke. Blake looked back up to catch his eyes once more.

"Yeah," he replied. Everyone caught his distraction. It was plainly written across his face that he had a crush on Blake already. Blake batted her eyelashes, obviously just an idiosyncrasy, but it enthralled him to no end. Her long eyelashes surrounding her beautiful, yellow eyes and her small mouth made her look simply perfect.

"We should probably take him to Ozpin," Blake spoke for the first time, from his perspective. He knew he had a hopeless fantasy on Earth of Blake and himself. On Earth, that was all it was, though: a hopeless fantasy. Now, he was wondering if it could become a reality.

Azure nodded. "I think we should wait 'til Breeze is good to go, that way they can do one meeting and make one verdict."

"Sounds good to me, just please don't anger Weiss anymore. Deal?" Ruby said. She seemed so eager for them to agree. Yang once again made a witty comment that Nero, in his ogling, had missed completely.

Nero's eyes slid out of focus to anything but Blake. He was so lost in thought. _Could it be a reality, now that I'm here on Remnant?_ He was struggling with the thought. There she was, in the flesh. He could just walk over and kiss her right then and there, but he still liked a girl on Earth. Would she be waiting for him or worrying about him? He was so confused; the names started whirring within his mind, alternating... _Blake, Rachael._ He didn't want to betray his feelings for either girl.

"Nero! Nero!" Robin was yelling at Nero trying to get his attention. Eventually he just resorted to slapping him. Nero staggered a little in the direction of the slap. His focus slipped back into position. He lifted up his walking stick, which had turned back into a full-sized halberd. Nero braced himself to bring the blade down. Robin took a step back to avoid getting cut in half as he drew his katanas.

Azure inserted himself between Robin and Nero. He was only making sure the two lugheads didn't accidently rip each other to shreds. Based on what he knew of what Robin could do and what it looked like Nero could do, neither would survive a fight between each other. Azure gave Robin a look that said 'Why?', then to Nero with a 'What are you doing?' face. Turning back to Robin, he asked, "Did you really have to slap him?"

"He wasn't answering to me yelling in his face, so... Yeah, I did." Robin stood up and lowered his katanas. Both he and Nero put away their weapons. As they did, the tension in the room seemed to disappear. Honestly, the intensity of two people with deadly objects in such a small place like that...

Azure turned to Nero to speak. "Ruby wants your word that you won't irritate Weiss anymore."

"I make no promises, but I will try. That was more of just a one-time thing." Nero laughed a little more, but despite that, it was obvious that he was being sincere about it. It was also plainly obvious he still had something else on his mind. Robin figured what it mostly likely was. The only one who seemed to miss it was Azure.

Ruby, Blake, and Yang left the boys for their room. Nero dropped his "walking stick" to the ground. He sat down hard on a bed and put his head in his hands. Azure closed the door and rounded on him. "Man, what was that? I've never seen you act that way."

Nero was barely listening to Azure. He felt horrible, his stomach was turning a little too fast, and he was still confused about Blake.

"What happened? That was like…"

Nero dragged his hands down his face as he looked up. "I don't know, okay, Azure?" He couldn't stop thinking about Blake's eyes looking at him and the sound of her voice. It was so much more intoxicating than he could have imagined.

Robin, unlike Azure, knew at that point what was going on. "Nero, I think you should get some rest."

Nero agreed. Robin left the dorm to give Nero some peace and quiet. Once Robin and Azure were out of the room, Nero loosened the breastplate of his armor. A couple songs by Rodney Atkins came to mind as he sat there. How could he just forget about Rachael, and how could he ignore his feelings for Blake?

"What happened back there?" Azure asked. He and Robin were walking along the cobblestone paths around the school. They passed an interesting statue they both recognized. It was the one where one each of a Hunter and Huntress were standing over a Beowolf.

Robin smiled and kept walking. "You're not going to believe this. Nero had a massive crush on Blake while we were still on Earth."

"You're kidding." Azure was a little taken aback by that statement. He was sure Nero still liked Rachael, even though she had broken up with him. He knew Nero wasn't the kind to jump from girl to girl. Azure had honestly never heard of Nero liking two girls at once.

"No, I'm not," Robin said confidently.

"But he still likes Rachael. How's this going to work?" Azure asked.

Robin shrugged. "Not a clue, but he did bring up a good point earlier. Maybe we _will_ have to go and find Cen. What if he's in some kind of trouble?"

* * *

Cen was quickly losing both his strength and the hope of finding his friend. He knew he couldn't keep fighting forever. Just as he thought he was finally free of the Grimm nightmare that had followed him for the previous mile or so, he was stopped dead by a cliffside that he knew he couldn't scale in time. He turned around, unwilling to fight much more. Finally getting a good look at the Grimm chasing him, he made out every type of Grimm. Beowolves led the charge, with Boarbatusks not too far behind, and Ursai behind them.

_Bring it on,_ Cen thought to himself. _I can handle the likes of you._ Unfortunately for him, at that moment three Nevermores appeared in the sky, one King Taijitu came from each side of him, and the rear of the pack was brought up by four or five Death Stalkers. _Okay, not anymore_.

With a sudden burst of energy, Cen managed to hold his ground against the horde of Grimm. Slashing and shooting like a madman, he managed to take down most of the monsters, leaving only the King Taijitus, Nevermores, and Death Stalkers.

Cen charged for a Death Stalker, trying first his rifle, which he found to be clean out of ammo. Reaching for a back pocket mid-run, he realized he had absolutely no more rounds to shoot with_. How did I already go through all of my rounds? I had .22s, .30s, and .50s_. He was about to withdraw his hand when he felt something else. Pulling it out, he found a grenade in his hand. Without thinking, he pulled the pin and threw it into the mob of Death Stalkers. Unfortunately, he was too close to the grenade as it gave a larger explosion than anticipated, throwing him back towards the cliff.

* * *

A villainous figure sat in the darkness, yellow-orange eyes glowing menacingly like a flame. The figure stepped into the only light in the room, revealing black hair over the left shoulder and a dark-red, off-the-shoulders, V-neck mini-dress with intricate yellow designs on it. Clearly a female, she strolled over to the opposite side of the room, her dark-glass high heels clicking against the floor with each step, and picked up her scroll.

She looked at the screen to find what initially looked like a potential intruder. The gray man on the screen was fending off a giant horde of Grimm that had suddenly appeared while running around and seemingly looking for someone. Upon further examination, she noticed an assault rifle and a knife. She quietly watched as the man on the screen defeated Grimm after Grimm, slashing Beowolves, shooting Ursai, and stabbing Borbatusks.

"Interesting," she said, clearly intrigued by the skill displayed by the man in gray. _I must find a way to recruit him_, she thought to herself. _He could be a very powerful ally_.

The female figure was observing the battle on her scroll when something caught her eye. The gray man on screen was caught between the horde of Grimm and a cliffside, but was able to kill most of the monsters, leaving only the strongest Grimm left to face. She was more than impressed with his skill. She sat still, curious to see what he would do next. She watched as he pulled out a grenade and threw it at the Death Stalkers. She also saw the following explosion and the gray figure fly back against the cliffside.

With impressive speed, she left the room. Her only thought: _I have to hurry._

* * *

Cen lay slumped against the cliffside, struggling to remain conscious. _Why does my face burn so much?_ He couldn't process the scene in front of him. The explosion had jarred him too much. Thinking he was in a dark room, he activated his Semblance, and was surprised to find he was still surrounded by the same Grimm. He couldn't comprehend what had happened before he passed out.

When he woke up, Cen found he was in another dark room. Activating his Semblance once again, he was somewhat relieved to find he was actually in a dark room this time. Deactivating his Semblance, he heard the click of high heels approaching him.

"Well, well," the approaching voice soothed. "It seems you've finally woken up."

"Why is it so dark in here?"

"It's not dark in here at all," the feminine voice said, confused.

"What do you mean?"

Cen heard an exasperated sigh. "That explosive you threw…went off a bit close to you. You maaaay have been burned, and some shrapnel found its way to your eyes," the voice explained.

"N-No…" Cen said weakly. "No… You're lying."

"Although I lie a little more than most," the voice replied, "I'm not doing so right now. You're as blind as a bat." Cen heard a slight chuckle in her voice when she spoke.

"You're lying, I know it! YOU BITCH!" Cen punched what turned out to be a nearby lamp, breaking it.

Cen heard another sigh. "_Now,_ it's dark, thanks to you."

With tears running down his face, Cen moved his hand up to his eyes. Running the fingers over them, he felt a stinging pain, but he didn't care about that. What he was really crying about was the fact that his face felt like something out of a horror movie. His eyes were tender and raw, and cuts peppered the majority of his face. More bloody tears escaped his eyes as his hand fell to the ground, and he wept.

"It's too much," Cen sobbed, his throat beginning to hurt. The soreness made him croak out his words, "It's too damn much."

"Calm down," the voice consoled. "Everything will be alright."

Fighting back his hiccups, Cen retorted, "No, it won't. I've lost my sight. How is that 'alright'?"

The woman placed a hand on Cen's shoulder. "That doesn't matter. You're safe here. That's all that matters. Nothing else will happen to you."

"What makes you so sure?"

"You're with me. I won't let anything else happen to you."

Cen heard the figure get up and walk away. He calmed down, and thought for a bit. _I guess I can trust her. She sounded so comforting and confident. I wonder if she can help me…_ He felt tears welling up in his eyes at the thought. "Goddamnit," he whispered to himself. "Where the hell are you, Barrett...?"

* * *

Breeze was finally discharged from the infirmary. Azure, Robin, and Nero went to pick him up. Breeze was surprised to find he was in the world of Remnant. He also brought up the fact that it was the first time he'd seen Nero. Nero apologized for that, and the group laughed and joked their way to Ozpin's office.

As the group approached they ran in to Professor Goodwitch. "Who are these two?"

"We need to talk to Professor Ozpin," Azure said. Goodwitch stood there thinking for a minute. It appeared like she was judging whether it was a good idea to let them in or not. Breeze was sure she was just doing it to intimidate them, and decided shortly after that it was working. She finally opened the door to the elevator to Ozpin's office.

At the top they all walked into the office, and Ozpin turned around in his fancy chair. "Ah, who do we have here?"

"Headmaster, we've got two more new students." Azure answered. "This is Nero Firestone..." Nero's armor clinked as he stepped forward. "And next to him is Breeze Winston." Breeze stepped up and nodded his head.

Ozpin studied the two new "candidates" with interest. Nero started to feel a little self-conscious of himself. He shifted awkwardly from foot to foot. Breeze seemed comfortable there. "I will extend the same offer to the two of you that I have given to Mr. Rouge and Mr. Maize, since you all seem to know each other."

Robin punched the air, and high-fived Azure. Robin mouthed the words "We'll tell you later" to both Nero and Breeze.

"Now that there are four of you, I am going to enroll you as a team. You will receive a message on your scrolls tomorrow with details for your exam. Until then, Mr. Winston and Mr. Firestone, you and your friends will be under the supervision of Team RWBY." He stood up, continuing, "I am convinced that you two will perform well, based on recent events."

Breeze and Nero thanked Professor Ozpin. Azure had a few concerns of his own, so he stayed behind to talk to Ozpin in private for a minute while the others stood outside.

"Sir, I would like to say something." Azure seemed a little nervous but was committed now. "There are four of us here at Beacon, but we have reason to believe that there is a fifth person somewhere on Remnant."

"I see. Well, I will let you know if another person turns up. Is there anything else?" Ozpin looked down at his Scroll, and frowned. He started answering the message.

"Sir, we, that is my friends and I, only have what we fell with. Is there any way that you could lend us some money to buy new clothes?" Azure was pitching in the dark, but was hopeful. He wasn't looking forward to spending his time on Remnant in the same clothes day after day.

"Very well. You will each receive 350 lien for additional clothing." Ozpin swiped his Scroll screen and tapped it a few times.

"Thank you, sir." Azure left Ozpin to his work. Azure rejoined the others, and they all went off to Vale after receiving their funds from Professor Goodwitch.

The small group stopped by several stores, buying articles of clothing for themselves. At one point they all separated, feeling they could get more done that way. Buying extra clothes didn't take the group of four guys very long. They each bought a few sets of clothes, except for Nero, who skipped out on a couple things and bought a book instead. They all met up at the town square and began the trip back to Beacon. Nero had his book out and was reading.

"What did you buy a book for?" Azure asked.

"Why didn't you? I don't have any books here to read so I thought I would buy one. Plus I've always wanted to read _In the Forest of the North_. I'm actually surprised they have this book." Nero was rather defensive about his decision. His real reasoning was more of a conversation starter with Blake, and to help him ignore Weiss.

Once they arrived back at Beacon, Weiss blew a top about where they were. Nero pulled out his book and started reading. Ruby and Robin were trying to calm her down. The rest just watched awkwardly. It wasn't for three minutes until Weiss walked back into Team RWBY's dorm. The rest of Team RWBY said their goodnights to the four new students.

Azure, Breeze, Robin, and Nero walked into their own dorm. Nero claimed the bed he had slept in the previous night. Azure moved his bed to a corner, and Robin moved his bed to the opposite corner. Breeze took the remaining bed and soon all four boys fell asleep.

* * *

A gentle breeze passed over a vast field. The grass was a mixing shade of yellow and green, to the point that one couldn't tell where one color ended and the other began. One could look from the top of a hill and still only see the vastness of the field. However, past the field stood a building, a school. The school was not very tall in comparison to other buildings elsewhere. The simple fields of grass that touched every area around the school made it noticeable. The school was something of a modern design, made with a brick-like finish. Many windows of various sizes were spread throughout the entire school.

A rush of color appeared as a man awoke on the field. Waking from his sleep, he began to stand up and understand where he was. In his field of vision was a baseball diamond, a small gray building, and a fence line that stretched across the entire field. After taking in the environment, a growing smile appeared on his face. _Thank goodness it's over! It was just a dream, _thought the man. He chuckled at his thoughts as he began his trek from the field towards the large school. As he continued to walk down the field, he stared at the sun that slowly began to descend from the sky. Its warmth gave a welcoming greeting to the man as he walked to the school. "Man, it's getting late. I wonder how long I've been asleep? Oh, well, I'm sure Mom and Dad won't mind too much; they trust me enough, so everything should be fine," said the man. The sight and sound of walking on familiar ground, hearing the sounds of shoes hitting pavement, all felt nice and normal.

As the man finally got to the glass doors of the school, he noticed his reflection. The man was wearing a nicely-pressed white shirt with a black vest, a pair of dark denim jeans that had clearly been used for multiple days, a pair of black shoes, and a black messenger bag. Seeing this, a sigh of relief exited his mouth and was replaced with an even larger smile. "Well, it looks like I'm back to normal. Hopefully Barrett and the others are back as well," said Thomas, as he opened the door to the school and entered into the building.

The inside of the building was partially carpeted, due to the fact that this area of the building was not only used as a place to mingle but also as a cafeteria. As Thomas continued to walk to the southern area of the school, where the band room (the area where majority of his friends hung out at) was, he noticed that there seemed to be no one in the building. All the tables and chairs in the cafeteria were stacked and organized.

He turned down the hallway leading toward the band room, which, to his surprise, was empty and quiet as well. "Okay, I know it's a little later than usual, but usually there's at least _someone_ here, maybe a staff member…?" said Thomas confused. As he opened the door to the band room, yet again no one was there. He then looked at his watch, which read 4:00 PM. "Alright, I can understand why the band room might be empty around this time, but those involved with sports should have still been here. After all, we're still in the middle of basketball season. Not that our team is any good, but still..." he said, perplexed further.

Finally, letting the confusion go, he went to his band locker, grabbed his saxophone case, and slung the strap attached to the case over his shoulder.

However, as he turned around to head out of the band room, he noticed he was no longer there, but instead in a windowed hallway. "What the heck! How did I end up here!?" he said as he took in his surroundings. "I know I'm still within the school for sure, except now it looks like I'm on the top floor hallway, judging from the view of the parking lot from the windows," he said, looking out said windows.

"You don't belong here."

Thomas jumped at the sound of the voice, only it was familiar... He quickly realized it was his own. As he turned toward the direction of the voice, he got an even bigger shock. Standing across the hall was himself. He was dressed in the same clothes as he wore, the only difference between the two of them was that one was shocked while the other looked angry.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean you don't belong here and you were never supposed to exist."

Confused by this, Thomas continued to ask questions. "But you and I are the same person! How am I any different from you?"

"Because you are from Remnant and belong there, and _only_ there!" Thomas's look-alike shouted angrily. "Take a look for yourself!" he continued, pointing at the window's reflection.

Looking back at his reflection, Thomas's mouth dropped. In the reflection, he no longer was Thomas, but Breeze. "How did this happen? I was normal just a second ago!" Thomas was flabbergasted by the change.

"That doesn't matter. What _does_ matter is that you need to leave this place and _never come back_! After all, that's what everyone else did. Your friends, the staff… Everyone is gone, living their own lives right now!"

"My friends would never leave me behind, both you and I know that!" Breeze replied, feeling a stab of pain from Thomas's statement. "Not Daniel, not Jeff, not John, and most certainly not Barrett, nor anyone else for that matter would ever leave me behind!" Thomas continued, with every word getting more intense than the last. "I just want to go home! And live my life with everyone I've ever known!"

Thomas, getting even more frustrated with Breeze's words, finally snapped. "Listen, you imitation of me, what makes you think that even if you went home, you would end up back at the same time you entered Remnant? Let me tell you how it's been since you entered into Remnant from that tablet. It's been more _twenty years_ since then! Don't believe me? Let me show you first-hand!"

Suddenly both Thomas and Breeze arrived in the room where the group was playing their Dungeons and Dragons game. People in uniforms were scouring the room with unusual equipment. Some were studying the tablet from where it lay on the floor, while others were talking to people, specifically parents of the group and witnesses in the building, and strangely a girl he recognized but wasn't that close to. She was crying and her mother was holding her shoulder. It was Daniel's ex-girlfriend, the one from the Seattle Trip. Breeze then looked to Thomas, who had a scowl on his face, and asked, "Can they see us? The people in the room?"

"No, to them we are ghosts, just witnessing a replay of an event," replied Thomas in a serious tone. "The men in the uniforms are soldiers from the SEA. It wasn't long before you and the others left that finally someone noticed and made a report. The SEA, listening in on any sort of conversation that might prove useful to them, overheard the report and swarmed the school. After they finished interrogating all the witnesses, including our and the other's parents, they made them all, and others associated, 'vanish'."

Suddenly the two appeared outside, at the front of the school. A sign with the school's name was dismantled, leaving only the pitch black frame of the sign to show for any remnants. The gates to the school were shut closed with chains wrapped around. The parking lots for both the students and teachers were completely bare.

"It wasn't long 'til the SEA finally closed the school down permanently to search for any other devices. Finding nothing, they then fabricated an imaginary threat to the entire city, creating a city-wide evacuation for further searching. They took everyone...our friends, family, peers, anyone that had ever seen any of us. Gone. Just like that. To them, those associated with us were just nuisances getting in their way, so they got rid of them," Thomas said intensely.

After taking in all that Thomas had said, Breeze then remembered something. "What happened to the rest of the Science team? I mean, we met up with that one member in Seattle," he recalled, as he tried to cling to any hope he could find.

"They never came. Not even the guy that was in Seattle."

Finally, the two appeared back in the windowed hallway. Now, Breeze was slowly breaking down internally from all that he heard. After all, what was the point, with no home to return to, no friends, no family. There was no point in going home.

"So, as I said, you _don't_ belong here. Go back to Remnant, and _never_ come back home." Thomas coldly demanded.

* * *

It was the middle of the night. Breeze sat upright, taking in a large rattled breath. He was having trouble breathing. He was still in the dorm in Remnant. _It was just a dream… It was just a dream_, Breeze repeated in his mind, as he breathed heavily. Getting up he could see that Azure, Robin, and Nero were all sound asleep in their beds. Breeze then walked into the bathroom, rethinking all that had happened in his dream.

_You don't belong here… _

_You were never supposed to exist…_

_Never come back…_

_They took everyone...our friends, family, peers, anyone that had ever seen any of us. Gone. Just like that._

He staggered to the bathroom in the dorm. Sweat was falling down his face, obscuring his vision. He hit the sink hard and shakily turned on the faucet. Cold water sprayed down into the basin of the sink. Breeze looked into the mirror. He inhaled sharply as he felt his chest contract. He looked down from the mirror, caught some water in his cupped hands, and threw it into his face. The cold water shocked him as it cleaned off the sweat.

Breeze then turned and took one of the nearby bath towels and rubbed the water away from his face. Tossing the towel, he looked back into the mirror and found Thomas staring back at him. Breeze's chest convulsed at the sight of Thomas, and he leaned forward, choking on his breaths. Thomas copied Breeze to the dot. Breeze looked back up in anger at Thomas. He moved his hand to a heavy set glass sitting on the counter next to the mirror. Thomas's hand imitated Breeze's. Breeze picked up the glass full of toothbrushes and a couple tubes of toothpaste. Breeze looked away and threw the glass at the mirror. The sound of the mirror shattering wasn't loud enough to escape the bathroom but it filled the bathroom completely. Breeze let out a guttural cry. When he looked back at the mirror Thomas was gone; it was just himself staring back in a million pieces.

Breeze turned away from the mirror and fell to his knees. He sat there and cried for a minute. Finally he stood and walked to the door of the bathroom. Nero was there leaning in the doorway.

"Is everything alright?" Nero asked, with some concern.

Breeze didn't answer. He shoved Nero out of his way and left the bathroom. He silently got back into bed and sat there the rest of the night, eyes wide open.

* * *

**A/N: This chapter has begun to establish (in detail) the internal conflicts for each character. Cen wants to find Barrett (Azure), Nero is faced with a decision concerning his love life, and Thomas is having a very difficult time accepting this new "reality" of Remnant.**

**Don't worry, Azure and Robin will be covered in a chapter or two.**

**Until then, don't forget to Follow, Favorite, and Review.**


	4. Chapter 3: Initiation

**A/N: Another couple weeks have come and gone, so here's your next chapter! Enjoy!**

* * *

Robin woke up first the next morning. Or so he thought, until he noticed Nero walking out of the bathroom. Nero was dressed in black padded cloth clothing, and his hair was still a wet mess. Robin swung his legs over the edge of his bed and climbed. He decided he wanted to take a shower. He grabbed a set of new clothes he bought the previous day: a black shirt, button-up collared shirt, and jeans. As he was entering the bathroom, Breeze woke up.

Nero picked up a Bible that he set on the nightstand earlier. Robin took one step into the bathroom and turned around.

"What the hell happened in there? There are toothbrushes on the floor, shattered glass in the sink, and the mirror is broken. Breeze, do you know anything about it?" Robin seemed a little befuddled by the state of the bathroom.

"Umm… Robin, that…" Nero coughed as he set down his Bible. He looked up from his bed. "That was my fault. I was testing out my Semblance. I obviously need some practice."

"What _is _your Semblance?" Robin asked.

"That, umm... Well, you're just going to have to wait and see." With that Nero started reading his Bible again. Nero shuffled into a better position. He was laying on his back, Bible in the air. His folded halberd was sitting next to him, as if Nero was paranoid.

Breeze angrily sighed, "I saw it happen, and after that we went back to bed." Breeze hid his hand, which had sustained a few scratches from the broken glass. The scratches were slightly swollen but other than that there were no signs. As to why he sustained even that much was unclear to even him.

"Fine, but I am not cleaning that up." Robin walked back into the bathroom and closed the door. Nero and Breeze heard the water turn on.

Breeze continued to stare at the ceiling. Nero went back to reading his Bible. After a few minutes, Nero pulled out his book, _In the Forest of the North. _Azure was standing over his shoulder for a second before speaking.

He coughed to get Nero's attention. "Well, you aren't just very covert?"

"What?" Nero looked over his shoulder to look at Azure. Nero was a little peeved. Azure certainly had a way with words. "Oh, the book… It's just um… it's a pastime."

"Sure, a pastime," Azure said, raising his eyebrow as he left Nero to his reading.

Robin exited the bathroom. He finished getting dressed with black shoes and a fedora. Breeze finally sat up. He stood and walked to the bathroom to take a shower. Nero put down his book and swung his legs off his bed. He sat, looking at Azure across the room.

"Azure, you seem to be good with relationships…" Nero was about to ask a question, before Azure interrupted him.

"You seem to be confusing me with someone else. The only thing I can say is enjoy her company, be respectful and listen, and above all, smile and laugh with her." Azure and Nero laughed. Nero was glad Azure hadn't mocked him. Sometimes all we need is a little support from our friends.

"Well, thank you." Nero began to strap his breastplate on. The metal made noise, as Nero tightened the straps in between the left side plates. He was beginning to place on his thigh plating when Breeze exited the bathroom. He looked better, but was still not making eye contact or smiling.

Azure was about to enter the bathroom, when he stopped to ask Nero one final question. His hand was on the wall and he was leaning his head backward out the door. "Why are you putting on your armor? We bought new clothes for a reason."

"I believe in being prepared, and besides, my armor looks badass," replied Nero.

"I think I'm going to side with Nero on this one, Azure. I mean, sure I'd prefer more casual dress from time to time, but that armor _is_ pretty BA," Robin said. He was patting himself to ensure he had everything he needed. They were all going to join Team RWBY for breakfast, and Robin wanted to look his best.

Nero smiled at Robin as he tightened the last strap to his armor. He then slid his Bible into the back plates, just above the belt. As he was checking every strap, he heard Azure's voice but couldn't comprehend a single word. Nero ignored the noise. Once he was satisfied that his armor was secure, he spun his cloak around over his left shoulder. He shifted it into position and clasped the button closed.

Azure, in the bathroom, was very perplexed. There was glass all over the sink area, and toothbrushes littered the floor. _Did Breeze do this? He was the last one in here..._ Azure examined the glass in the sink and realized it was the remains of a glass cup that once held the toothbrushes. It was clear to Azure that the glass was thrown at the mirror, but why? Azure was about to take a closer look at everything when Nero spoke from behind him.

"If you could hurry up, the others would like to leave as a group, and they want breakfast," Nero said. His armor glinted slightly from the lights in front of the mirror. Azure had turned on those lights to look at the wreckage. "Oh, I told Robin it was an attempt to use my Semblance. I'll clean it up later."

Azure held up his hands, giving up. Nero left and Azure took his shower, after which he got dressed in a new set of clothing. It consisted of a black tie and a red shirt tucked into a pair of black slacks. The sports coat was unbuttoned and dangling on either side of him. He and the others left for the mess hall to join up with Team RWBY.

Robin and Azure were excited for what the day had in store. Nero was terrified to see Blake again; he was afraid that he was going to screw things up once more. Breeze was, as earlier, brooding. About what, none of the others could figure out.

The whole team entered the mess hall. Light was pouring in through the large windows on one side. The holographic banners had the symbol of Beacon on them. Students of all kinds were there eating breakfast. Team RWBY sat at table near the door. Team JNPR sat with them. Much to the newcomers' delight, there was bacon, eggs, and all kinds of other foods. Breeze seemed to lighten up ever so slightly at the prospect of breakfast. A nice plate of waffles, eggs, and bacon sounded refreshing to him.

Robin was the first to sit; he chose a spot next to Ruby, and started piling food onto his plate. Breeze sat next to him. Following suit, he filled his plate with just waffles, eggs, and bacon. Nero sat as far from Blake as he could. Azure took the only spot left open.

"Are you all ready for your first…" Weiss turned to see Azure sitting next to her. At first she just looked at him, then began to speak again, "Oh, no. I am _not_ sitting next to this klutz."

"Weiss, I agreed not to irritate you. Now, if you would like that to continue, I would suggest that you sit next to Azure." Nero had a mischievous smile.

Weiss opened her mouth to speak. Nero raised an eyebrow at her. She closed her mouth, huffed, and went back to sipping on her coffee. Azure quietly thanked Nero. He was glad that Weiss hadn't blown up on him like she had the day before. Nero tried to strike up a conversation with Robin, sitting across from him, but his eyes and mind kept finding their way to Blake. She was on the opposite side of the table reading a book and sipping her tea.

Finally, Robin just gave up with Nero and talked to Ruby about her scythe and his katanas. Breeze kept to himself for the most part, chewing on his waffles and bacon. Every once in a while, Yang would ask him a question, which would be answered in a one- or two-word reply. Nero was staring at Blake. His head was on his right hand with his elbow on the table next to his plate. His fork was sitting in his food, unmoving. Blake looked up and caught his eye. Nero instantly looked down and took a bite of his chicken fried steak.

"You complete dolt!" Weiss shouted. As she stood up, everyone could see the coffee spilled onto her skirt.

"I'm sorry. I'm sorry." Azure was trying to hand her napkins. Azure's face was a bright red. Yang started laughing when Azure tried to wipe the coffee off of Weiss's skirt for her. "Here."

"Get off of me!" Weiss left the hall in all of a tizzy. Yang and Robin were laughing. Azure's face remained a bright red, almost pink. Ruby was telling Nora what had just happened. Nero patted Azure on the back and smiled. Breeze seemed indifferent about it, but had a small grin. Just then, Azure felt a buzz in his pocket. Robin and Nero reached for their scrolls at the same time Azure did.

"Awesome, our initiation is today. I am so ready for this," Nero said. He was excited to get to try out his weapon.

"When, today?" Breeze asked. Breeze wasn't sure he was ready for "this." He was still rattled from his dream the previous night. Was it real, or was it just that, a dream? He didn't want to tell anyone else. It was scaring him. What would the others do if they thought about what was happening on Earth while they were gone?

"We are to report to the top of the hill a little before noon," said Robin.

* * *

"Today will be your initiation to Beacon, after which you will be announced as official students," Professor Ozpin explained, as he stood there at the edge of the cliff with his coffee mug and cane. He looked almost like an ordinary guy. "Your task is to retrieve the relic from the Forest Temple and bring it back."

Nero was a little suspicious of that, "It's that simple? Bring back a relic?"

The others all looked at Nero for his outburst. Azure had his face in his hand. Robin had a face that just said 'Really? Why would you ask that?' Breeze smiled a little. After a second Azure started laughing, "Do you not remember?"

"Were you expecting something different?" Professor Ozpin had that annoying air of omniscience that was almost unnerving.

"Umm…" Nero wasn't really sure what he expected, but it sure wasn't that. It just sounded too simple. There had to be a catch in the task somewhere. That's when he thought about it. This was pretty much the same speech that Ozpin gave team RWBY and JNPR. "You know what Azure? Shut Up!"

"Very well, if there are no further questions, I bid you farewell for the time being." And with that, Breeze and Nero were launched into the air. Breeze seemed to be having an easy time with it, miraculously missing the taller trees by inches when he should have hit them. It also seemed that Breeze wasn't really falling, but gliding. He caught the branch of a tree and landed on a lower branch, an almost impossible feat.

Azure stood on his respective springboard. "You ready Robin...?"

Robin smirked as he donned his hood and mask. "Of course I'm ready." He then added jokingly, "I just hope you're ready, too."

"You know it!" A faint trace of electricity sparked around Azure. He was a little nervous, but for the most part he was just eager to get to the ruins. He was also curious about the others' Semblances.

"Alright, let's do this!" Robin encased himself in a protective layer of energy. Right before takeoff, he asked Azure, "So, do you have a landing strategy?"

"A little technique I whipped up." With that, Azure was flung into the air, his body encasing in pure lightning, increasing his distance a bit.

Robin followed suit. A giant windshield-looking piece showed up in front of him. It cut through the air like a rocket. Robin quickly passed over Nero, who seemed to ghost through a tree. As his altitude started to drop, the windshield disappeared, replaced by a new construct. Wrapped around him was a harness. Attached to the harness was a set of ropes tied through loops on a parachute.

About ten feet of from the ground the parachute disintegrated. Robin dropped at a steep angle. Even with rolling on impact, he still hit the ground hard. He stood up holding his shoulder.

Robin looked around. He was in a semi-open area of the forest. Bushes were clumped around the place. If it weren't for the fact that nothing looked burned, he would have sworn it was where Ruby and Weiss had encountered those Beowolves and burned down the forest.

As though on cue, a pack of black-coated Grimm slowly materialized from the bushes. Their deep red eyes fixed on Robin. They looked hungry and approached quickly. Robin drew his katanas. Once the first Beowolf reached his sphere of reach, it fell with a slash to the face. More and more rushed at Robin. His swords moved almost as fast as they did. Throughout the whole encounter Robin was only hit once. Fifteen Beowolves lay at his feet.

* * *

Nero, on the other hand, wasn't faring so well. He hated when his feet left the ground. He felt less substantial. He looked behind himself to find a way back to the cliff. That was almost the death of him. He turn back to face his direction of travel, to find a tree barely ten feet in front of him. At the last second, he was able to open a portal through the tree.

It took him a long time and a lot of patience, but Nero finally reached the ground. It is truly amazing how much momentum a falling body can gain. He got up from the ground and checked his armor. He spun around, taking stalk of his situation. He was alone in the middle of the woods. He had even lost track of the way back, so not only was he alone, but also lost.

Nero started walking around, hoping to find something to help him locate the temple. An arrow of rocks lying on the ground, maybe, or a tour guide hiding in the bushes; anything would be better than nothing. Nero kept walking in the same direction, hoping to find something or someone. It wasn't long until he found the catch to the task they were given. An Ursa lunged out from a grove of trees at him. He rolled to the side, avoiding the brunt of the attack. Nero sprang back to his feet fists raised ready to fight.

From the opposite direction another Ursa lumbered into the clearing. Nero was now trapped between two Ursi. He watched, and waited. Finally, both Ursi lunged for him; he opened a portal in front of him and behind him. The Ursi rammed head long into each other before they could stop themselves. One toppled over the other as the portals closed, leaving a pile of Grimm in front of Nero. In the time it took for the two bears to untangle themselves, Nero had opened a third portal and pulled out his weapon. He knelt before the two Ursi, planting the blade of the Halberd in the ground, and pulled the trigger to the anti-tank rifle. The two Grimm stood no chance against the high-caliber round.

Moments later, a figure slimmer than an Ursa landed next to Nero; it was Breeze. "Hey, no way, I was planning to pair up with you!"

Nero rolled his eyes, sarcastically remarking, "_Nooo_ kidding. I would have never guessed."

* * *

Breeze had control over air as his Semblance. With the way he seemed to glide instead of fall, it was pretty obvious. He dodged trees with stunning brilliance. He grabbed onto a branch, swung up, and landed on a different one. Breeze pulled out a blade, which folded out to reveal a bow with two blades on either side.

Breeze drew the string back. A silver/blue-colored arrow appeared on the string. A small Nevermore was circling overhead. As one would expect, the Nevermore spotted Breeze and flew toward its foe. Breeze let loose the arrow. The Nevermore changed course, as did the arrow. The further away the arrow got the slower it turned, but it connected with the belly of the Nevermore. The arrow exploded.

As the Nevermore got close, Breeze let loose another arrow. Right before the arrow hit the bird, it spewed out small explosives. An arrow in its eye, and about ten small explosions around its head, the Nevermore screeched out in pain and confusion. The small bird-like Grimm ran into the tree Breeze was in, causing Breeze to fall. He controlled his descent toward the Nevermore.

Once he was close enough, Breeze shot at it again. This time the arrow stuck, and obviously exploded with the way the neck expanded. Shortly after landing on the ground, Breeze heard a loud gunshot. Breeze shot up to a low-lying branch, working his way toward the noise. It didn't take long for Breeze to find Nero.

After greeting him, he added, "Let's keep moving this way. I saw a set of ruins about a mile out." He pointed in the general direction.

Nero started walking. "Let's get moving, then. A lot can happen in a mile."

* * *

"...Fair enough. The ruins are fairly close. We'll move north. Keep watch on the back, I'll manage the front. Got it?" Azure kept walking before receiving an answer. He pushed away branches as he walked. Fog was settling in over the forest at this point. Visibility was very much decreased. Azure was wigging out a little from the lack of visual.

"No problem. Let's go before a Death Stalker or something shows up," Robin replied. After defeating the pack of Beowolves, he had found Azure rather quickly.

"Try to keep up." Azure ran off northward, being careful in case there was Grimm nearby. The last thing he wanted was to be cleaved in half by a Nevermore or something.

"Oh, I don't have to try." Robin tailed closely, careful to look for anything behind them. The two crept along at a surprising speed. Robin's clothes snapped from the air rushing past him. His eyes stung slightly from the wind. He slid his mask on. Instantly his face warmed up, and his eyes stopped watering. He also decided to don his hoodie a moment later. The strange part of the pair's journey was that they hardly encountered any Grimm. The only real threats were the pair of Ursai that Azure tangoed with and the Beowolves that Robin fought.

"Something's definitely wrong here," Robin noted as they approached the ruins. "That was too easy."

The expanse of the ruins was the same as in the show, which is to say numen stone work. Pedestals lay in a circle and intricate arches surrounded the cobble pad. The overgrown shrubbery and the blue-skied background were in the same places. Everything was the same; the only difference is that this time there were no relics on the pedestals.

From behind Robin and Azure, a loud gunshot rang out. Both wheeled around to see the source. Out of a hedge fell Breeze and Nero, followed closely by an Ursa Major. Robin drew one of his pistols and was ready to shot. However, before he could take the shot, an arrow embedded itself into the Ursa's neck.

"Breeze, Nero, glad you two could make it!" Azure shouted to the pair as they picked themselves off the ground.

"Good to be here!" Nero replied. "If it wasn't for Breeze throwing me back with a gust of wind, I would have taken a claw to the back!" Nero slapped Breeze on the back as he made his pronouncement. His armor gleamed in the open air and sun of the clearing. As he moved his arms, the etchings on his breast plate seemed to move like an actual pair of wings flapping. The silver plating reflected light so well you could barely look at him.

Robin put his hand up to protect his eyes. "Dude, tone down the beacon. You don't have to let every Grimm in the forest know we're here."

"Divine providence, man. Got a problem with it?" As Nero walked up, the glare seemed to vanish. Nero was glad his armor did as it was supposed to. Within the suit was a sliding bar that activated tiny mechanics. The gears and axles slid a tinted gloss over the plating. The gloss was scratch resistant on top of everything else.

"So where are the relics?" Breeze asked. He was searching the pedestals for any signs of chess pieces.

Azure turned back to the stone circle. "Not a clue." Azure looked saddened and miffed.

"Aww… is someone missing his pony ride?" Robin started laughing at Azure in a joking tone. Azure turned a little red. He told Robin to shut up. Robin only laughed harder. All Robin could think about was when Azure was too scared to ride a horse. It had been at Azure's own birthday party.

Nero stood up from behind a pedestal. "I might have found something."

"_Might_ have?"

"I'm sorry, Robin, that I'm not finding anything close to what you have found," Nero sarcastically fired at Robin. The others gathered around Nero as he read the note. "You have made it this far, but to prove your worth, crack the code and bring back your relics."

"What?" Breeze looked like a brick wall smashed his face. His bow folded back down into a short sword. He sheathed it in a black leather belt. His grey t-shirt was slightly grass-stained and his scarf was blowing lazily in the wind. Breeze was trying to think of different forms of code: Navajo, binary, semaphore, and Morse. _A lot of good a bunch of names would do, though._

The other three were just as bewildered as Breeze. Azure was the first of all of them to notice. The cobble floor looked like a giant combination lock. There were numbers on the rollers.

"Okay guys, there are numbers on a set of dials here. I bet it's a combination lock." Azure spoke with such confidence it was almost amazing. Unfortunately no one else caught the concept. As he explained he could watch as comprehension dawned on each of his companions.

"So what numbers do we use for the combo?" Nero backed up and noticed what Azure was talking about. There were three large stones that weren't connected to anything. They also appeared round, now that he looked at it closely. The only question left was what he had just asked. They could try a brute technique, but that would take forever. There had to have been some kind of clue for it. The numbers looked like they originally had gems or something lining the outside. Azure turned the dial with his foot. It looked eerily easy. Azure had just simply turned a dial to, what Nero assumed to be, a thousand-year old combination lock with no difficulty.

Robin spoke for the first time in a while, "Maybe these pedestals have something to do with it." He pointed out the numbers on the pedestals. They matched. Numbers from 1-9 were carved on the dials. There were obviously a few pedestals missing because not all nine numbers were represented on stone pillars. What was the pattern though? Robin thought that maybe each number was only used once. There were only 9 numbers so assuming every number is only used once that was still 15120 different possibilities.

Azure kept flicking the dials around, trying random sets and hoping they would work. Nero walked off to keep guard as the others tried to figure out the numbers to the combination. Breeze was kneeling next to Azure, Robin was examining a statue, and Azure was squatting in front of the first two dials. Azure's legs were slowly falling asleep and he shifted around to accommodate. Breeze was making suggestions and helping turn the other two dials.

"Wait!" Nero shouted to the group from his post. "Are there any designs between the dials and the pillars?"

Nero waited for a response which came from Robin, "Yeah, there are arrows in four places!"

"It's like the Da Vinci Code. Those are the clues to the combo!"

"Azure the numbers that it points to are 2, 6, 7, and 2," Robin read off. Robin spun in a circle in order to read the pedestals. What was the significance of these numbers he wondered? 2, 6, 7, and 2. Also, he was wrong about only using each number once.

Azure looked up at Robin. "That order didn't work. You got any other ideas?"

Breeze stood out of frustration. He began to pace. As he stopped, he glanced at the arrows. His eye caught something Robin had overlooked, the color and shape of the arrows. Two were black and two were red. "Azure, try 2, 2, 7, 6."

"Why?" Azure started to turn the dials before getting an answer but was obviously expecting one.

"Because for cards, the arrow shaped like a heart is pointed at the 1, and the arrow shaped like a club is pointed at the 9." Breeze was reminiscing about the times he had played cards with his friends. Ones that may no longer exist. That thought brought him down, but he hid it from the rest.

Azure slid the last dial in place. Nero was standing a little behind the group now. Azure stood between Robin and Breeze. As a hissing noise slowly creeped into being, and the flag stone began to open up, Robin, Breeze, and Azure took hurried steps backwards. The ground trembled as the old temple hinged open to reveal a secret passage. Stairs led downward into the bowels of the earth. Naturally, all four of them wanted to venture in so badly. You know, disturb those ancient-looking cobwebs and suffocate in the oppressing darkness.

"I guess we go in?" Azure suggested. No one objected, so he took the first step into the horrible hole in the ground that would lead to the relics.

It was as it looked, oppressively dark and eerily quiet. Footsteps didn't echo and Nero's armor barely made a squeak. They reached the end of the tunnel to find lanterns light for them, and on two new pedestals was a set of chess pieces. Both Azure and Breeze picked up the knight-styled figurines. All four newly-enrolled Beacon students left the cavern they had just entered. As they emerged, they were all astonished as to how nothing happened while in the passageway. In all movies, it's where something goes horribly wrong, especially when you pull something off of a pedestal.

The sun hit each of their faces as they left the tunnel. Nero stepped on a flagstone that slid down a little. The tunnel started to close behind the adventurers. Nero was the only one of the four to not turn around.

"Dude, what are you looking at?"

Nero unfolded his halberd, dropped his clip, and loaded in another one. Azure looked to see what Nero was staring at. "Everyone, battle positions. We are going to hold this line." Azure drew his sword and it folded across his arm. Breeze flicked out his bow and drew an arrow. Robin unsheathed his katanas. His katanas started to glow red and blue from Dust.

"Get…" Azure was interrupted by a Death Stalker smashing down trees on the left side of the clearing, not to mention a Nevermore that took to the skies. "Scratch that line. Breeze, handle the Nevermore. Nero, take care of the Death Stalker. Robin, help me with this horde of Grimm."

Nero ran forward with his halberd and engaged the Death Stalker. They exchanged blow for blow with blade and claw.

Breeze shot while airborne with a gust of wind at his back. Arrows flew from his bow. Every so often, the arrow exploded on or before contact. The blades on either end of the bow allowed Breeze to slash at the Nevermore's eyes.

Azure was shooting at the horde around Robin. Robin was all over the place. One second he was on the left side, the next he was on the right side. He was slashing with a mass of effect with fire and ice sweeping through the lines. He was so distracted that it was basically Azure's job to cover his 6. Robin was plowing through Beowolf after Beowolf, but he was not watching has back at all.

Nero was about to let loose a bullet as the Death Stalker tried to sting him. He opened a portal under himself and the second over the Death Stalker. His anti-tank rifle shot rang through the forest. The force of it flung Nero up toward Breeze. Nero looked down to see the Death Stalker's claw fall off. While he was looking at it, the Nevermore clipped him. He started to fall. Breeze came to his rescue with a gust of air, slowing his fall. The Death Stalker was pissed and waiting for him.

Robin was dashing forward at full speed. He decapitated one Beowolf, dodged an Ursa claw, and jumped over another small clump of Grimm, letting loose a flurry of Ice Dust. Every beast that faced him fell. Azure was still only keeping the Grimm off Robin's back.

Breeze was flying around the Nevermore, pulling a more epic Hawkeye. His arrows were whirling around the Nevermore. Explosions rocked it, and it screeched in a high pitch. Arrows pierced its feathered body. A hurricane was slowly showing up around the Nevermore. It tried to fling its feathers at Robin but the wind caught the feathers. They fell harmlessly to the ground.

The fight was starting to take a toll on the group. The amount of Grimm had greatly reduced. Robin and Azure were now only facing an Ursa Major and a small pack of Beowolves. Nero had taken out the Death Stalker, but had sustained a slash across the chest from the stinger. Breeze floated down on top of a dissolving Nevermore to help Nero.

"Let's get to the cliff. Nero needs the medical wing." Azure helped Breeze pick up Nero. "Robin, keep us safe!"

Robin quickly got rid of the Beowolves, and Azure blew off the Ursa's head. The group picked their way back to the cliffs. Nero was coughing every once in a while with an agonizing effect. Through the forest and over a river they went. Breeze was floating Nero next to himself as he and Azure pushed him along. The hole in Nero's armor was dripping slightly with what looked like poison.

Once they reached the cliff, they stopped. Breeze shot into the air followed by Nero's limp form. Azure shot up after Breeze using a ball of electricity. Robin constructed a platform and jumped off of it. Over and over again he created platforms to get to the top of the cliff.

Standing there, waiting for the new team, were Ozpin and Glynda. "Get your friend to the medical wing. He fought well against that Death Stalker."

"Yes, sir," Breeze said with a nod. He left in a hurry to get Nero some help.

"H-How did you…?" Azure looked at Robin.

Robin collapsed a little. Removing his mask and his hood, Robin explained. "With my Semblance, I can take energy and solidify it into objects, like platforms and weapons. However..." He collapsed from the sudden toll his technique had put on him. "...this happens," he finished as he smiled weakly.

"It looks like Mr. Maize isn't faring too well," Ozpin began. "I believe it will be best to send him to the medical wing immediately."

"N-No..." Robin said weakly. To the surprise of everyone, he got up and was soon standing. Nearly falling over, he leaned against a tree. "I just need...some rest."

"In that case, Mr. Maize, I hope you and your team rest well with the knowledge that all of you passed the exam with flying colors."

"R-Really?" the stunned Azure managed to get out.

"Of course, Mr. Rouge. After all, you four have completed the objective,, not to mention that you defeated a Death Stalker with record speed." He sipped his coffee. "It's times like these that prove you belong here, despite the fact that you came from a very different place."

Later that very day, Ozpin had the four stand in front of the rest of the school. Nero was wrapped in cloth. The crowd cheered them on; Ruby and Yang were cheering the loudest. Weiss was clapping and looking at Azure. Nero was unconcerned with the rest of what was going on. He was focused on Blake who was staring back at him. Maybe there _was_ something real after all.

* * *

**A/N: To anybody who's wondering, Azure's initial battle was omitted on purpose. Don't worry, it _will_ come up later.**

**And to hold all of you over until the next chapter, you can spend your time guessing at what the significance of the numbers 2, 6, 7, and 2 are.**

**I hope you enjoyed this chapter; if you did, don't forget to follow, favorite, and review, and we'll see you in the next chapter.**


	5. An Ec-CEN-tric Interlude

**A/N: Hey guys, so sorry for the super late update. Life hit all of us hard and we couldn't get around to this. Anyway, until further notice, the update schedule is out the window, so updates will happen whenever we can get around to it. Thanks for sticking with us.**

* * *

Cen sobbed to himself for several minutes before finally pulling himself together. He activated his Semblance, looking for a place to sit other than the floor. After locating a couch, he sat down only to realize that he was exhausted and instead decided to lie down, falling asleep almost immediately.

* * *

Cen awoke to someone poking at his ribs, causing him to jolt a few times and even laugh a little. "Stop! I'm awake!" He opened his eyes to see who his attacker was, only to be disappointed by the pitch black that had been gifted to him the day before. He did notice that a bandage now covered his face. Evidently, someone put the bandage on him while he was asleep. He wondered who this mystery attacker was. "Who's there?" His question received no verbal response, but whoever was there made it clear that they were still in the room. "Quit poking me!" The stranger showed no mercy and continued to jab at his ribs, eliciting small chuckles and, eventually, full-on laughter. Only when his lungs were empty did the unknown assailant let up.

"Please… stop…" For once, the stranger complied. After finally catching his breath, Cen repeated his question. "Who are you?"

Suddenly, the same soothing voice from the previous night reached his ears. "She's going to be training you."

Cen gave her a quizzical look. "Training me?"

"That's right. You'll need to learn how to fight without using your eyes," she replied. "Of course, it _will_ be a bit difficult considering she doesn't talk — well, not to anyone other than _him _— but she can teach you braille eventually."

Cen wasn't sure if he could handle the challenge in front of him. _Well, I do need to learn how to get around without my eyes. My Semblance could probably come in handy too._ Finally, he nodded. "Alright. When do I start?"

The woman sounded amused at the question. "_Someone's _enthusiastic." Cen glared at the general area where the voice emanated. "Soon, but first, why don't you tell us your name?"

He wasn't sure if he should tell her his real name or his new name, but he decided quickly. "It's Cen. Cen Tempête."

"That's an... interesting name."

The blind teen retorted, "Well if my name isn't satisfactory then what's yours?" He couldn't see it, but Cen was sure her glare was burning right through him.

As she walked out of the room, the woman simply said, "Begin."

Cen didn't stand a chance. He was immediately clocked in the back of the head by the girl who woke him up. "Damn! That hurt!" Cen turned to swing at his attacker but his fist met only air. While he was caught off balance, the girl gave him a swift kick to the back, and he fell to the ground. "This is going to be a _long_ day."

* * *

All he could feel was pain and exhaustion, the fight beaten out of him without him landing a single punch. Cen's entire body was sore from his trainer's onslaught of kicks, punches and jabs. He heard the voice of the woman who saved him the day before. "It would seem that you're not ready." As if those words were a queue, the nonspeaking girl's footsteps could be heard moving away. "I guess you'll just have to improve on your own for now."

Cen was heartbroken. Never before had he felt so useless. He began to weep once again. He tried to get up and find his bed, but he didn't even have the aura to use his semblance and find it. Curling up on the floor, Cen lay there, tears streaming down his disfigured face, until sleep finally came.

* * *

Jeff awoke suddenly, recognizing the auditorium from Mt. Spokane High School. The band teacher, Mr. Jones, was addressing the audience, telling them about how blown away he was by his students that year. Sitting at a drum set, Jeff gave a nod to his friend John, who stood only a few feet away on a riser, flugelhorn in hand and fedora placed perfectly on his head. After exchanging glances, Jeff heard Jones's speech come to an end. "And now, our Jazz I will perform a fun, energetic latin piece called 'Granada Smoothie', featuring John Petrovich on flugelhorn, Brenden Essig on trombone, and Jeff Updike on drums."

Jeff waited intently, his gaze never leaving the teacher's hands. The elder man's energy was like that of his own students; no one would guess that he was 58. After giving the tempo, the band began playing perfectly together. Jeff was in a state of true happiness. He played through the melody, supported John's solo, and nailed his before the outro finally passed. The audience erupted into a standing ovation, and Mr. Jones gave Jeff his trademarked "Too good, big guy!" He nearly cried from joy when, suddenly, the room went black and the applause stopped abruptly. A burning sensation came over his face. He screamed in pain, begging for help. The pain became more and more excruciating. A soothing voice reached his ear. "You're blind as a bat."

* * *

Cen jolted awake, tears clinging to the corners of his eyes. Once again, he was greeted by the familiar blackness that clouded his vision. He realized that his life as a drummer was over, and he would never achieve his dream, not in this world, and not without his eyes. Cen was suddenly overcome by anger. He picked himself up and activated his Semblance, locating his gear and the door. He ran out and found his way outside, running into a nearby forest that he also found with his Semblance.

Cen tore off into the trees, fueled by rage. _This isn't fair!_ Stopping to use his Semblance again, he located a large, seemingly old beowolf. _Why did this have to happen to me?!_ Cen fired his weapon, suddenly thankful that his savior had given him another set of clips. With his aura flaring, his Semblance seemed to last longer, so he noticed that his .22 caliber rounds didn't do much against the grimm. _None of this is fair! _He screamed, firing round after round until his clip emptied. Cen ejected the empty magazine and switched to .50 caliber rounds.

The beowolf quickly closed the distance between them and swiped at Cen. He rolled out of the way and, with the help of his Semblance, stabbed his bayonet into its spine, firing his rifle and leaving a gaping hole in the beowolf's abdomen. Even after the beast lay limp on the forest floor, he fired the rest of his 8-round clip. More gigantic holes peppered the creature. Cen didn't even care that his shoulder was nearly dislocated. He pulled his bayonet, dubbed Sharpened Senses, off of Vibrant Ricochet and began to repeatedly stab the corpse in front of him. His semblance had stopped shortly after the beowolf fell, but Cen continued to jab his knife into it's body.

Eventually, his anger died down, being replaced only by despair once again. He picked up his rifle, and slowly ran his fingers over the side of it. He designed the damn thing and he would never be able to actually get a good look at it. As the adrenaline in his system died down, the pain in his shoulder became more and more obvious. Cen had no more tears to cry. All he could do was sit in the forest, holding his weapon. He longed for another chance to sit on his drum set back home and play Tower of Power or Pantera, or to march onto a football field with the drumline and play a show.

He heard footsteps approaching. The same comforting voice reached his ears. "Cen… what are you doing out here?" Cen didn't say anything, he didn't even move. The footsteps moved in front of him, and the woman bent down, pulling him into a gentle embrace. Slowly, Cen lifted his arms and returned the contact, crying into her shoulder. "Don't worry, Cen. I'm here. You're going to be okay."

* * *

Cen was carefully directed back to area where he had stayed the previous nights. As they reached his room, the woman tilted Cen's head up and spoke. "Don't go out there alone again. We can't have you getting hurt." Cen simply nodded. "Take the rest of the day to get your bearings. I'll have someone else train you tomorrow." He spent his afternoon (at least that's what he guessed it was) activating his Semblance over and over. _It lasted pretty long back there._

* * *

Cen woke to more poking, only it was on his shoulder and conjured no laughs. This time, the voice that reached his ears was male. "Hey, Cen! Get up! We're training!" He groaned in protest. "Don't give me that crap! Get your ass up!"

Cen just wanted to sleep for another ten hours. "What time is it?"

The young man chuckled. "Why don't you look at the clock?" Another voice, this one female, laughed along with him.

Cen glared in his general direction. "Shut up!"

The boy stifled his laughter. "Alright. Let's start with your training. Point directly at me." Cen moved to activate his Semblance, but the boy interrupted him. "Nope. No Semblance. Find me by ear." Cen obeyed, pointing his finger where he thought his new "mentor" would be. "Wrong. I'm slightly to the left." Cen sighed. He heard footsteps moving around him.

The girl finally spoke. "Now where is he?" Cen pointed again. "Nope." _Great. Another long day._

* * *

Several weeks passed since Cen's training began. Much to his relief, he was making a lot of progress improving his other senses and extending the use of his Semblance. His trainers even deemed him worthy of being tested.

His savior's voice cooed, "Today you'll be fighting some… let's just call them robots." There was a sinister slyness to her voice. Cen nodded and readied his rifle. A door opened and one of the "robots" was pushed in. He activated his Semblance and took a look at his opponent. It seemed shaky, maybe even scared. He contemplated backing out, but the woman seemed to notice his expression. "Don't worry. It's just a robot. But it's malfunctioning, so you'll have to take it out. It can still fight back though."

Cen was a little hesitant. _Back on earth robots weren't ever scared_. Cen wasn't sure how, but he knew that this "robot" was scared. Robots just sort of lurched and broke down. _What need was there to fight it? It would be perfectly easy to scrap it and salvage parts._

"Do you not remember the first lesson you were taught?" the voice seemed irritated with him. Of course he remembered his first lesson it was kind of hard to forget. Don't think, obey. This drove all other thought from his mind. This voice was the reason he was alive, he owed her.

Cen advanced upon the robot. Slowly at first then, he was running at it. The robot retreated a pace then two. it took a sloppy fighting stance. Cen stopped right before he reached the robot. A quick swing missed his stomach by inches. Cen sacrificed the safety of his semblance and jumped. Bayonet poised he struck. The clash of metal met his ear. To say that his attack was blocked would be an understatement. The robot seemed more prepared than it let on. It was quicker than Cen was by a long shot. Within the space of a second, the robot had Cen on his back. The floor was apparently more mud than dirt like he originally thought. Then he felt it, the first drop of rain. He must be outside. With a smirk Cen flipped rolled away from a downward strike from his assailant.

Cen slid to feet, activating his semblance once again. it was only just in time. The instant his semblance passed over the robot it was about to strike from behind. Cen rolled away getting his somewhat dirty back entirely muddy. on his feet again. Cen finally realized it wasn't that the robot was faster than him, rather there were three of them. _What, when did the other two  
show up? Don't think, obey!_

"We stick together we survive!" Cen could make no sense of that statement. It was made by one of the robots._Did they have AI? That couldn't be._

"Don't be scared, Cen, you can win. I believe in you," the voice said. Cen truly wondered who she was now. She always seemed to know exactly what to say to keep him going. The three robots grouped together. One held a great sword, the first one fought with an two axes, and the third bore an oversized crudgle. They began to charge as a group. Cen stood his ground. The first gun shot rang out, the robot on the left dropped. The two axes fell to the ground. The other two robots faltered in their attack. Again they seemed scared to know Cen had a gun. To be honest Cen was confused as to why the robots hadn't used a gun earlier. Cen fired another round. This time the robots were ready. A shield flashed into place. Again and again bullet after bullet was blocked. The robots gained confidence again. They charged. Cen was glad they had finally taken the bait.

A crudgle swung slowly at Cen. He easily dodged, and struck. For the second time Cen was surprised. His bayonet didn't make contact with the robot, but rather the handle of the crudgle. Cen became aware of the other robot behind him through his semblance. Cen had a sudden idea. The crudgle was obviously a distraction. Cen backed up, pretending he hadn't noticed the swordsman. The sword went up. The crudgle flew. Cen ducked. the scene unfolded as thus. The crudgle smashed into the side of the sword carrying robot, crippling it beyond operation. The crudgle was lodged into the torso of the other robot. Cen stood. In a quick flash the final robot was dispatched with a hole in the neck.

"Well done, Cen. I knew you wouldn't disappoint." The voice appeared again. Cen deactivated his semblance. He heard the clicking of her heels that was enough to tell him she was walking up to him. Then something he could never have explained in words happened. Arms wrapped around him. Soft hands were on his back. The cloth touching his cheek tickled a little, but he didn't laugh. His head was slowly pulled into her. His cheek gently pressed into the crook of her neck, and a hand caressing the other. "You did wonderful." Cen was reminded too much of his mother that his heart ached. He embraced her back, and began to cry. "Let it all out, child." Cen cried into her shoulder for several minutes.

* * *

Cen was later given the task of moving some crates and boxes around. He wasn't sure exactly what he was moving, but his peers made it clear that the utmost caution and care was required. He was content with this job but also felt like he was being used. Cen decided to talk to the woman who sheltered him about it. She seemed amused. "Well then, let's go talk to the others about it. I need to make sure everything was moved correctly anyhow." Cen nodded and the two walked to the open room of the warehouse.

The voices of his trainers along with one other voice that seemed eerily familiar sounded throughout the building. Cen couldn't make out exactly what they were arguing about, but he caught fragments of their yelling. Everything about it sounded so familiar. His confusion turned to downright panic as soon as the woman walking with her joined the conversation. She interrupted the older man, "Do what, Roman?" _Roman? As in Roman Torchwick?!_ Cen's mind raced, and he thought about the woman who rescued him. _Then that means that she's… Cinder. _Cen tried to calm himself down, but his breathing remained erratic and his heart pounded at a million miles a minute. Cinder turned to him. "You alright? You look like you've seen a… Nevermind."

Cen coughed a little. "I'm f-fine. I just… I just need some air." It took every bit of his will not to break into a sprint while walking toward the door.

The same gentle voice purred at him from inside the warehouse. "Don't go too far now. I'd _hate _it if something were to happen to you." _Yeah, right. _After making it outside, Cen sat down, and began wheezing with panic. He tried to collect his thoughts. _Alright. Cinder and Roman. The two who trained me… Mercury and Emerald? But who's the quiet girl?_ He couldn't, for the life of him, think of who she might be.

Cen considered running off, but Cinder would easily find him. No. He would need help. _I must be in Vale if I'm with Cinder. Maybe Barrett's here._ With that, Cen calmed down. If there was even the slimmest chance that Barrett could be here, he had hope. He decided right then and there to keep his ears open for any signs of Barrett. _I'll find him, and then he'll help me escape._

* * *

**A/N: If you enjoyed this mini-chapter, don't forget to Follow, Favorite, and Review. Once again, we apologize for the long delay, and we hope you stick with us for chapters to come.**


	6. Chapter 4: Field Training

**A/N: So sorry for the year-long wait for this chapter. Massive thanks to those of you who have stuck around long enough for this update. Just keep in mind that there is absolutely no schedule for this story anymore and future chapters will come out when they come out. Hopefully it won't be another year, but it's not totally out of the question.**

* * *

The next morning, everything was going well. Ruby sat across from Robin, telling him about the epic food fight from the previous day. He was hanging on her every word. Ruby's red sleeves slid around her wrists as she was describing how she rode a tray like a skateboard.

Next to Robin sat Azure, across from whom was Weiss. She didn't look particularly happy to be sitting across from him, but they were talking about the songs and concerts they had sung and been a part of. They seemed to be having a contest about it. To Azure it was great fun; he hadn't really had a person on Earth to talk about things like this with.

Every once in awhile, Nero would interrupt to remind Azure of something stupid he did at that particular event, snickering, "Half eaten, half price."

Azure's face turned bright red after a couple other times Nero had interrupted. "Hey, it's not like you haven't done anything stupid."

"True, but nothing to the par you have," Nero's reply was quick, and he waited for a response. He was given it just as expected. Azure wasn't one to leave things like that. He always had to retain some form of pride.

"Oh, so the 'Disney Dares' aren't stupid?" Azure was sure he had hit a nerve when Nero looked away.

"Oh, god, we're not bring those up are we?" Robin had a wide smile on his face. It was obvious to Azure that Robin wanted him to continue.

The whole table was looking at him expectantly, except Yang and Breeze, who were sitting at the end of the table talking to each other. Weiss motioned for Azure to tell the group. Ruby had put her head in her hands. Robin was still grinning and there was a twinkle in his eye. Blake was looking at Azure with curiosity. "What are these 'Disney Dares'?"

"Something that…"

"Okay," Azure interjected, "so Nero here was dared to walk up to some random girl in the mall and sing for her. He was supposed to sing a song from the movie _Aladdin_, which is a Disney movie. We were all sure he wouldn't go through with it, but we set it all up anyway. Someone picked out this cute girl in the middle of a group. We told Nero and as he was about to chicken out. Their group broke up; the cute girl went off on her own. Probably to the bathroom or something, but Nero walked up behind her. Tapped her on the shoulder. She turned around…"

Blake felt a tap on her shoulder. She turned around to see Nero kneeling on the ground. She was surprised to see him there. His armor was so heavy-looking that there was no way he could have moved that quickly without making a noise. His eyes were locked on hers. Both his arms were spread out as if offering a hug. He looked so cute kneeling there, the scar in the middle of his left eyebrow. Then she realized he was singing, "_I can show you the world. Shining, shimmering, splendid. Tell me princess, now when did you last let your heart decide?_" Nero stopped singing. He stood and finished the story. "The only problem was that she slapped me about 10 words from the end."

Ruby and Weiss were laughing as Nero took his seat across the table from Blake again. Azure was mystified that Nero actually just did that. He had certainly misjudged Nero's embarrassment about it. Robin was laughing with Ruby. Yang and Breeze still weren't paying attention.

"It sometimes hurts thinking about it though," Nero said. He rubbed his cheek. He was startled when felt someone else's hand on his cheek. He looked up from his food. It was Blake. Her eyes looked almost sad. Those yellow orbs captivated Nero the instant he looked into them. Her smile was perfect, full lips slightly curved upward. Her hair cascaded down her face, framing it magnificently. Her thumb rubbed his cheek slightly. Nero closed his eyes and leaned into her hand. He never wanted the moment to pass.

Without warning the hand was gone. Nero heard the shifting of the bench and Blake's high heels. When he opened his eyes he saw her leaving the mess hall entirely. Weiss was looking at him quizzically. Nero blushed for the first time.

Yang and Breeze got up to leave. Nero was now telling Weiss about the other "Disney Dare." Azure was remembering the first time Nero had told him about it. Soon Azure's thoughts shifted to the past few days. A week ago he was at Mt. Spokane High School, but now he was at Beacon Academy training to become a hunter. Before, he wore a t-shirt and jeans; over his t-shirt he always had a jacket with the words _drum major_ down the sleeve. Now he was decked out in the same clothes he had styled his OC in, and as much as he thought the outfit made him look like a badass, he still missed that special charm that came from his personal wardrobe on Earth.

He began to dwell on his experiences during initiation...

* * *

_Azure was launched from the pad on top of the cliff just as all the others were. As he flew through the air he noticed just about everyone. Robin was above him with his cone of energy. Breeze was off to his left avoiding trees like he would dodgeballs. Nero was below him and a ways ahead, being the first one launched. Just as Nero was about to hit a tree, Azure saw a small flash and his friend was gone._

_Azure sailed comfortably through the air, wind ruffling his hair. He hit a hodgepodge of leaves and branches. It wasn't his original intention, but it slowed his descent and forward momentum. Azure began to slide down the tree. He landed hard on a branch, his boots absorbing most of the shock. He steadied himself on his branch. As he began to look around, he heard a snapping noise. Azure looked down to the ground, expecting to see a Grimm. There was nothing. He heard the snapping noise again. It wasn't until it was too late that Azure understood. The branch snapped out from under him._

_Azure fell again. His foot caught a root on his landing. His momentum carried him forward but the root held his foot back. His face hit the ground for the ninth time since arriving on Remnant. Honestly, it was like there was some malevolent force that just wanted to watch him fall._

_Azure picked himself off the ground and dusted off his clothes. He looked around. He couldn't see anything in the way of other people. Off in the distance he could see the cliffs. Concluding that the relics must be in the opposite direction of the cliffs, he started to run._

* * *

"If I'm cold, then you must be an Ice Empress," Nero said. It broke Azure out of his thoughts.

Ruby was having a hard time suppressing her laughter. Robin did nothing to conceal his. Azure was irritated by Nero's statement. He had already promised Ruby that Nero wouldn't make fun of Weiss anymore, and yet he was doing just that. It was almost scandalous.

"Nero, don't talk to Weiss like that," Azure rebuked Nero. Nero's eyebrow shot up in response. "It was…"

Weiss cut across Azure. "I don't need you to defend me. I have my own honor, thank you very much."

Azure was bewildered; all he was doing was upholding his end of the bargain. "I wasn't implying that…"

"I have been treated like a helpless girl my entire life. I don't need your help." Weiss got up and stalked off. Her skirt bounced with each of her sass-filled steps. Her heels clicked the entire time. The table was silent for a minute. Ruby got up and followed Weiss.

"Wow. That just got intense," Nero said. No one left at the table really understood what had just happened.

Robin looked around. "Hey, where did Yang and Breeze go?"

Nero looked at him with a mischievous grin on his face. Robin knew exactly what was going to happen. "Gone with the Wind."

"Gosh dang it, man." Robin just shook his head. There really was no stopping this guy from making jokes. "That was bad."

Nero laughed. He was dressed in his armor again, despite the fact that he had bought new clothes. Robin thought to himself, _Either he's really paranoid or he just likes to show off. Maybe a little of both._

"I'm going to go find the Wind," Nero waved to Azure and Robin.

* * *

_Azure was heading north to his friends. The forest was thick, underbrush everywhere. His feet snagged often. He didn't trip again, which he was thankful for. His pace slowed down greatly as he started to tire. Azure needed a rest and he knew it. His clothes were starting to chaff from the sweating. The sun beat down on him. It was almost oppressive but not quite. The rays of light shone through the canopy like spot lights. Even the shade of the massive trees did little to lower the temperature._

_A minute passed as Azure squatted to regain his composure. When he looked up, he was perplexed. He was sure that hadn't been a clearing in front of him before. In his curiosity he advanced. Off to the side of the center was an impressive rock formation. It stood tall and proud. It was wide, wide enough for a tree to grow on it. In fact, there was a tree growing on it. Azure approached and corrected himself, Growing though it._

_It was so much like his backyard. Absolute and total confusion washed over him. None of it made sense anymore. How could he be on Remnant if this was his backyard?_

_Azure's head began to swarm with uneasy thoughts. His stomach began to churn uncomfortably. None of it made sense. Why was he going through this? He had always wanted to be in one of those fantasy books; sure, who hasn't? But he liked his life. What kind of sick twisted game was he playing? Was he dreaming? How could he be dreaming? None of it made any sense._

_Azure stumbled forward a few paces. He collapsed onto the rocks. He sat there for what seemed like hours._

* * *

"Hey, Azure. We're being requested to go on a hands-on field training exercise." Robin shook Azure out of his thoughts.

"Where are the others?" Azure took a second to get his bearings straight. He had been talking to Robin the entire time; about what, he had no idea. Robin and he had been walking through the corridors of Beacon.

"Not a clue. I'm sending them a message to meet us at the Bullhead pad." Robin and Azure walked in hurried silence. Robin's clothing rustled ever so slightly as they walked. The two reached their dorm as quickly as they could. Robin threw on his combat gear. Azure, already being outfitted, grabbed Nero's book, _In the Forest of the North_. He knew that his friend would want it.

In about 30 minutes, everyone was on the pads. Team RWBY and Team ABRN. The two teams were apparently picked to train together. Off the Bullhead flew. Within the Bullhead, the two teams mingled. Sort of, anyway. Yang and Breeze were still hanging out. She was laughing, then he was laughing. Robin and Azure were talking to Ruby and Weiss. Blake was sitting in a corner. Nero was hanging out of the Bullhead.

Nero held on to the door frame as the rest of his body was buffeted by the wind. His armor whistled as air rushed through it. Strips of light were reflected from his breast plate into the rest of the airship. He was on top of the clouds, literally and metaphorically. Blake had rubbed his cheek with her hand. Her warm, soft gaze transcended his very being. Nero closed his eyes. His whole body felt so light and he had a smile on his face. Fate was smiling upon him.

In his absent-mindedness, Nero's grip was loosening. Before he could stop it his hand slipped from the frame. He was falling from the airship. It was an odd sensation. Adrenaline pounded in his ears. He could hear the others yelp in surprise. Nero opened a portal below himself and one in the Bullhead. He landed back in the airship rolling to absorb the shock. One cannot imagine how difficult it is to roll in armor. Breeze was already out the side when Nero landed. Relief and irritation flashed across Breeze's face at once. Nero stood up.

"So that's what your Semblance is." Robin had a look that so clearly said he understood everything now.

Azure punched Nero in the shoulder. "What did you fall out for?"

"It wasn't on purpose. We hit a patch of turbulence and I lost balance. That's all." Nero's face felt hot but he wasn't yet blushing.

Azure followed Nero's gaze. It was predictably on Blake, who was doing all she could to not draw attention. "Man, just go over and talk to her. You have been staring at her ever since we arrived."

Nero stood, pushing Azure's outstretched hand away. He grabbed the top of the opening again. He looked off in the distance longingly. "Azure, you don't understand. It isn't that simple."

"What do you mean, of course it's…"

Nero interrupted Azure with a hand. His head sagged as he looked back at Blake. She caught his eyes and quickly looked away. Nero continued to look at Blake as he spoke, "It's not that I can't talk to her; that is pretty simple. The thing is... I still have feelings for another girl. You see, if we never get home, I can accept it and move on. However, if I ask Blake to be my girlfriend, and if time permits my wife, should we ever go home I could never forgive my faithlessness to her."

"Who is 'her'?" Azure looked puzzled.

"Nichoel Grace," Nero replied. The way he said the name there was power behind it. Longing and hope, but there was also hints of great sadness and hurt.

"Nero, you are certainly an honorable man." Azure patted him on the shoulder as he walked away.

"If I were so honorable I would have already accepted her wish." Nero whispered under his breath as Azure walked away. He went back to thinking. His thoughts wandering ever deeper. The longer he thought, the more he hoped and longed for the impossible. Nero began to inwardly pray for guidance.

Before long, the Bullhead reached its destination. The two teams jumped out and hit the ground. Professor Port and Glynda Goodwitch also climbed out of the airship. The two professors addressed the teams. The warehouse they had come to was recently vacated by the White Fang. It was their job to scour the warehouse, find any traces they could to point to its purpose, and report anything they found.

* * *

Team RWBY and Team ABRN choose pairs between each other. Breeze and Yang was an obvious pair. They had spent so much time together lately it would have been a real surprise for them not to be a pair. Robin and Ruby was the second pair. They were assigned to the loft. The other two pairs were a little harder to be chosen.

"I will not go traipsing around this place with _him_," Weiss said, pointing at Azure. He looked hurt, by the way she said "him".

"So you will be Nero's partner, and I will be Azure's. Is that okay?" Blake was looking at Weiss.

After a few seconds Weiss agreed. Azure looked at Nero with jealousy. Nero walked off with Weiss to their assigned section. Azure and Blake to theirs.

* * *

Robin and Ruby weren't having much luck with finding anything helpful in the loft, much to the disappointment of both. Neither one, however, wanted to give up, so they kept searching. After a few more minutes of failure, it became increasingly clear that both were getting pretty frustrated.

On their way back to the professors, Ruby asked Robin what Nero had meant when he said, "Half eaten, half price." Robin chuckled and started telling Ruby about the time Azure had terrified some poor child while visiting a college campus. To any onlookers, he was having just as much fun recounting the story as Ruby was just listening to it.

He had just finished the story with Azure's infamous line, "Half eaten, half price!" and was met with a giggling Ruby. Not a moment later, he could have sworn he heard his name, his _real_ name, being called out by someone, but when he turned around, he couldn't find anybody.

He turned back around in confusion, not entirely sure who could've shouted his name or if anybody shouted it at all. Ruby gave him a look of concern, but he merely waved it off and reminded her, "We should probably get back to meet the others now."

* * *

"Drum majors Travis Widmer, Thomas Drake, and Barrett Sooth…" Jeff couldn't help but snicker at that. "... is your band ready?" The familiar action was displayed on the podium on the sideline of the football field, Travis turning around and lowering the hood of his cloak, revealing a white-painted face with dark circles around his eyes. Giving his salute to the judges, he turned to face the band, guitar on his back and hands ready to count the lead baritone off.

It was so familiar. Jeff remembered going through this at least a dozen times before, and yet, he was never used to it. The adrenaline coursed through his veins; nothing could compare. Four duts, and the entire band played the opening impact. _Yep. _He thought. _Nothing will even come close. _

...

"Hey! Dumbass! Pay attention!" The crowd's cheers faded away, replaced by the voice of none other than Mercury Black himself. Cen blinked and found his way back to reality. "We're looking for weapon crates. Now quit daydreaming and start looking!"

Cen glared in Mercury's general direction. "I can't exactly _look_!"

He was sure that Mercury smirked at that. "Well that's not _my _fault now, is it?"

Tired of the verbal assault, Cen turned toward the door. "I need some air."

"Try to run away and I'll have to kill you."

"Whatever. I'm already dead." With that, he walked out, catching the pack of cigarettes that Mercury had lobbed at him.

"Nice catch."

Things were changing quickly — more so for worse than for better — and some… unconventional habits were being adopted. Before falling into Remnant, Jeff had never touched a cigarette, but now, as Cen, things were different; they were stressful, worrying, and, often, depressing. Mercury, gracious gentleman that he was, took Cen outside for a smoke when things got frustrating during training. At this point, there was little to no reason not to.

Flicking his spent cigarette into the street, Cen was about to walk back inside, but something familiar caught his ear. "Half eaten, half price."

_No. Way. _Turning around, he activated his Semblance, trying to identify the source of that familiar phrase. He spotted him, noticing the familiar outlines of one of his closest friends next to someone who looked slightly familiar. "John?" He took off in a sprint at the pair, yelling as loud as he could. "John! Stop!" He was so close, he even noticed them turn around to try and find him. He couldn't believe it. He was about to leave.

"Not so fast." A sharp pain hit him in the back of his head, and everything faded away. The last thing he saw was his friend turning back around in confusion and walking away.

* * *

Yang and Breeze were off in their area, talking about anything and everything. They were getting along so well. Earlier they had been talking about Yang, her experiences of adventure, how she came to Beacon, her choice in weapons, her talents, if either one of them thought about it they talked about it. "So, Breeze, what instrument do you play?"

"I play the Tenor Sax. Though during marching band I was a drum major."

"What's a drum major?" Yang inquired. She pulled a cloth of the top of a box. She looked in to find nothing.

Breeze was moving more empty boxes into a large pile. "He keeps the entire band across the field in time."

"What did you do for a pastime on Earth?" Yang began searching through a pile of papers on a desk.

"Well for pastimes on Earth, I was on my phone a lot, which is Earth's version of a scroll. I played games on it and watched a lot of videos. Besides using my phone, I mainly relaxed and worked on my drawings. I've been drawing quite a long time too. I even taught myself to draw!" replied Breeze as he thought back to his old life as Thomas.

"What kind of drawings have you done?" Yang seemed particularly interested about that for some reason.

Breeze continued to search for anything. The two weren't having much luck. They were supposed to be looking for evidence of the White Fang's presence. So far they hadn't found anything. "Mainly little characters, but I've drawn a variety of other things like sailing ships. I've even made a self-portrait! You'll have to see it some time, it's pretty cool... or at least _I_ think it is," Breeze answered with enthusiasm at the thought of his artwork, showing a smile for the first time since his dream a few nights ago.

"I would love to see it. What do your other friends do? Are they all interested in the same kinds of things as you are?" Yang switched the topic so easily. Breeze wasn't phased by the direction the conversation had shifted. Honestly, the two could talk for hours upon hours, and, truth be told, they probably have already.

"Not really. We're a pretty diverse group. Azure is much more into music than any of the rest of us and plans to become a dentist later in life. Robin hopes to be a programmer for a game development company. Nero will be in air traffic control after the Air Force and…" Breeze cut off when he noticed an oddity in the room at last. On the wall were peppered holes. A shotgun had no doubt been fired. Breeze leaned in closer to examine the irregularity. "Yang, come look at this, will you?"

"Sure thing, Breeze," Yang said cheerily. Yang stopped in her tracks. Not only did she notice the holes in the wall but also the other signs of a battle. It was evident to her that a few people had recently engaged in a skirmish. "Let's go get the others."

"Good idea." Breeze and Yang walked away from the scene.

They returned shortly afterwards with the entire group. Goodwitch complimented Yang and Breeze on their finds. Robin offered his friendly sentiments as well. Nero was a little less open in his compliment.

"Guess you aren't as up in the clouds as you seem." Nero had a smirk on his face. Yang laughed. Breeze was slightly offended but took it silently. He knew Nero meant no harm.

"What is your assessment class?" Goodwitch proposed the question to draw the hunters in training back to the task at hand. All looked at the scuffs and scratches.

Ruby was the first to answer. "There was a fight here between three people, two against one, and it didn't last very long."

"What tells you that?" Goodwitch was obviously impressed.

"There are three different styles of tracks…" Robin began the statement but was interrupted quite flawlessly by Azure. "And they are in a confined area."

"Teamwork is often the best solution. When answering a question, I would prefer individual work, but yes, that is correct." Goodwitch seemed baffled by the two newcomers, as if she had never witnessed such an interaction before.

After answering a few more questions, the students were excused for the rest of the day. While ABRN chose dinner as their next course of action, Weiss elected to confine team RWBY to a study session at their dorm, leaving the four boys to eat alone.

A sigh of exhaustion sounded from Azure as he sat down. "I'm glad that's done with. I'm gonna sleep so much tonight."

"I wish." Everyone was looking at Breeze now. "What? I'm not exactly taking this without any problems right now!"

"Well it's not like you're the only one." All eyes were on Robin now. "Jeff is still missing."

The groups eyes widened. Azure spoke next, "I completely forgot about him."

Robin's eyes narrowed, and his tone went sarcastic. "I'm _so very_ surprised."

Azure's eyes followed a similar motion. "What's _that_ supposed to mean?"

"We've been here for how long, and you're carrying on like nothing bad happened." All the while, Nero and Breeze were shocked into silence. "We can't just forget about Jeff. What if something happened to him?"

"Well there's nothing we can do about it right now! We hardly have time to look for him with classes and missions!"

Robin's gaze never faltered as he stood up to yell at his friend. "Do you honestly believe that classes are more important than our friend?! He could be dead, but you don't seem to give any semblance of a rat's ass!" The blond fell silent, and Robin lowered his voice. "This hasn't been easy for any of us, but it's probably been a whole lot worse for him."

Azure finally spoke in return. "I hear you. I really do, but I just don't think there's much we can do. I mean, if we're being honest with ourselves, we probably wouldn't do much good considering how little training we have." Robin had no words to deny Azure's claims. "We need time to get stronger and find more info on him."

Robin perked up, remembering something promising about their training exercise in Vale earlier. "I might have something." Sure that he had all of their attention, Robin began to explain. "When we split off into pairs, I thought I heard someone yelling my name—my _real _name—but when I turned around, there was just a crowd of people, and the yelling stopped. Maybe it was him. There probably aren't very many Johns here."

Azure seemed skeptical. "Are you sure they weren't yelling for Jaune?"

"It was clearly 'John'."

For the first time in the entire conversation (a rarity, really), Nero made himself heard. "We gotta go tell Ozpin right now." The team nodded, then disposed of their garbage and departed for the headmaster's office, reinvigorated by their newfound determination to find their missing friend.

* * *

(...hey!)

_Huh?_

(...Hey! Wake up!)

_Who's yelling at me?_

A harsh slap shot across Cen's face, followed by a slight burn. "WAKE UP!" He groaned and blinked his eyes open, once again being reminded of his eyes. At this point, he was just annoyed by it. His thoughts were interrupted by a deceptively calm, but obviously hostile voice. "Mercury tells me that a certain _someone_ tried to run off." Cen's blood ran cold. "Now why would that be?" The question was obviously rhetorical, but Cen was more concerned by the fact that his hands were bound and suspended above him, and his shirt was missing. "Oh? _Someone_ doesn't seem to have the politeness to answer my question."

A hand pressed to Cen's chest, bringing about an unbearable burning sensation followed by Cen's screams of agony. Struggling to catch his breath, he answered the question. "I… found out… who you really are…"

"Oh?" She pressed a finger to his arm, causing him to grunt in pain. "And who am I?"

"Cinder Fall! Torchwick's boss! Psychopath!" Another scream echoed through the building as Cinder grabbed his neck, and the smell of burning flesh became apparent.

"You would be wise to watch your tongue. You wouldn't want me to find the people you love and… well, you can probably guess the rest."

Cen looked directly into Cinder's eyes (at least where he thought her eyes were) and prayed that he was somewhat intimidating. "You don't even know who I am."

After a bit of pause, Cinder began to cackle. "That's… that's adorable! You really think that you have any kind of power just because you're not from here!" Terrified, Cen froze. "Honestly! How do you think I found you to begin with?! I didn't just stumble through the woods and find you!" _How?_ "It's obvious that you came from another world entirely! Nobody just ends up thousands of feet in the sky! And if you came here from your world, then the reverse is entirely possible." Tightening her grip, Cinder's tone somehow grew even more ominous. "And I'm certain that you aren't the only one who made it here." Cen began to panic, his breathing growing rapid. "And I can bet that you'll do exactly as I say, or something might happen to them. We don't want that to happen, now, do we?"

Cen couldn't even speak, but this changed when Cinder put her hand on his face, eliciting another pained howl. "I'll do anything! PLEASE! JUST STOP!"

Granting him some relief, she stopped torturing her victim. "That's what I like to hear. Tomorrow, you'll begin training again with someone whom I'm _sure_ you're a match for." With that, she walked away, leaving Cen panting and weeping to himself. He was broken.

* * *

**A/N: So now you know about Azure's experiences during initiation. And in terms of instruments, we're assuming that they all exist in Remnant; after all, Jaune _did_ play the guitar for Weiss.**

**Anyway, if you like the story, Follow, Favorite, and Review if you haven't yet. We always welcome feedback.**


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